Teach Each Other
by Kaylamrr
Summary: Kelsi works at a video store in a small town in GA. Every day the young Dixon would come to visit her, not exactly sure what compels him. They're both stubborn and tough. At some point, they even make a bet; Who would last longer in a catastrophic event? But Kelsi has a long lost secret that will eventually catch up to her. (Will go through Survival Instinct b4 show.)
1. FOUR O' CLOCK ON THE DOT

Today had started like any other day. I woke up around ten thirty this morning with my best friend, Mr. Hangover. Normally when people first wake up, they go take a piss. I, however, quickly pop three asprins in my mouth. Washing it down with my last swig of Jack Daniels. Probably shouldn't have drank last night when I knew I had to be at work by eleven. Oh well.

Luckily for me, getting dressed didn't take too long. After hopping out of the shower and pressing the towel to my hair so that it was damp and not soaking wet, I quickly scrunched it with some mousse. Clipping a black bow in so that it was a half up hair-do. That's my quick solution to a 'classy' hair style. I thought the matte black bow really complimented my dark brown hair, but maybe that's just me.

While still naked, I add a bit of eye makeup. Just enough to help my hazel eyes pop a little and also hide my visible hangover. Putting on my under garments and then shoving my legs into dark blue jeans all while brushing my teeth was kinda tricky, but I managed. I grabbed my black, v-neck shirt off the bed and climbed into it. Trying my best to keep it from smashing my hair. Grabbed my small purse and slipped on black flip-flops as I rushed out the door.

I somehow made it to work five minutes early so I was able to avoid another lecture from my boss, Jacob. He's cool and all, but sometimes I just feel like punching him in the throat and telling him to shut the hell up. Oh and if you're wondering where I work, it's a movie store. We're kinda like Family Video, but not as popular. This is a small town in the back woods of Georgia, most of the stores here are small family owned businesses.

It's already four o' clock and I get off at five, so as you can imagine I've been counting down the minutes. It's been pretty slow today, which is just fine by me. I was in the process of adding all of the returned dvds into the computer when I heard the bell ring, letting me know that a costumer has come in. I didn't even bother to look up or greet them, that is, until I realized who it was.

"'Ay! That you Daryl?!"

One of my customers that was browsing through the new release section greeted the redneck twenty-five year old. Daryl smirked at the other man. "'Ay, what's up Joe?"

Joe came up and patted him on the shoulder. "Aw, not shit. Pickin' up some stupid ass chick flick fer my ol' lady." Daryl went to go chuckle at him, but Joe moved in a little closer and lowered his voice some, making the redneck's expression more serious. "Ya know if yer brother's home? Just got my check yesterday."

Dayrl seemed a little annoyed with that question but decided to asnwer it friendly anyway. "Yeah man, Merle should be there. Just look for his bike in the driveway."

Joe smiled at that. "Cool, I'll check ya later then. Thanks man." He walked off and went back to the new releases.

I smirk and went back to the computer, pretending that I had no idea he was here. I could literally feel him approach me though. I hated the fact that every time this boy came around, I got nervous. "Don't know why ya look so concentrated Kels, ya know yer ass ain't doin' shit."

I gave him an annoyed look as my eyes landed on his blue ones. I couldn't help but smile at him. "First of all, my name is Kelsi. Ya can't read the name tag?" I asked him as I leaned over the desk and pointed at the name tag that read; Kelsi James in black letters. That only caused him to stare at my cleavage though.

I smiled and went back to typing in the entries as he huffed. "Whatever. What time you get off?"

I sighed. "Daryl Dixon, you come in here everyday just ta bug me. You don't even rent a movie. I mean seriously, if yer that bored sweet heart, then go look at the comedy section or somethin'."

He let out a 'hmph', which was his way of laughing at me. At this point I just stopped what I was doing and rested my arms on the desk, giving him my full attention. He smiled at me and raised an eyebrow. Damn, no matter how rough he looks with his dirty shirt that has the sleeves ripped off, or his raggidy jeans with a big hole on the knee and a red bandanna hanging from his butt pocket, this man is still so attractive to me. "Alright," my eyes left his muscular biceps and raced back up to his eyes as he regained my attention. "guess I can rent a movie while I'm here. What do ya suggest I watch, Kelsi James?" He said my name with a smartass tone.

I reached into the box of the return movies and pulled one out, tossing it to him. "Here ya go Daryl, now go home. It's on me."

He twirled it in his hands so he could read the title and see the cover, giving it a weird look as he read it out loud. "Zombie Apocalypse?"

I leaned over and gave him a little flick to the forehead. "Yeah, it's a horror movie. One of my favorites actually so ya better bring it back in one piece."

He gave his forehead a quick rub and looked at me like I was a little crazy. "Psh, course it's one of yer favorites. Must be why it looks dumb as hell."

I sent him a playful glare. "Oh shut up and just go watch it. Ya can't judge somethin' before ya even try it at least once."

He looked me up and down before responding. "Yeah, there's somethin' I wanna try at least once alright."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Go home Daryl. Come back tomorrow and tell me what ya thought about it."

He reached over the desk and flicked my forehead while chuckling. "Fine woman." As he went to the door and opened it, he let out a "Later sexy!" and then left me here to fight off the cheesy smile on my face.

"Is this all for you?" I asked her with a fake smile.

"Yes dear, thank you. Oh...and I'm sorry for asking so many questions earlier. Sometimes I get a little confused."

I acted out a giggle. "Oh not to worry. That's what I'm here for." I typed in the movie title and its price popped up. "That's a dollar twenty five for three nights."

She placed her old large purse onto the desk, creating a thump from the weight of it. As she dug out her wallet and began counting change, I heard a gruff, angry voice yell, "Here!" at the same time a movie case came flying at me.

To say the least it scared the shit out of me so I accidentally screamed, "What the hell?!" as I fumbled with the movie in my hands before finally getting a grip on it. Can't believe I was actually able to catch it. I looked up and saw the elderly church goers face, she was shocked from both my colorful choice of words as well as the flying horror movie. "I'm sorry Mrs. Bowing."

She quickly shoved the money into my hand, grabbed her movie and purse, then huffed out the door. Mrs. Bowing is an older woman in her seventies that comes in here once a week to rent a Christian movie. She was my first costumer in the past two hours. I sighed while putting the money in the drawer, that's when I saw what time it was. Four o' clock on the dot. After shutting the drawer, I looked up and locked eyes with blue ones. "Really? Ya had ta throw it at me?" He just let out a chuckle while I whispered "Asshole." After I was able to calm my nerves a little, I finally asked, "So, what ya think about it?"

He scoffed, "Tch, that movie was dumb as hell, jus' like I said it would be. Some horror movie, it wasn't even scary."

I laughed at him, "Oh whatever Daryl. You know ya pissed yourself watchin' it. 'Sides, it shoulda scared you."

I placed the movie into the return box as he asked, "Yeah, and why's that?"

I leaned on my elbows over the desk as I pondered that question for a moment. "Well...maybe 'cause it could really happen one day."

He looked at me like I was stupid. "Ya tryna tell me you really believe in that shit?"

I thought about it for a moment before I realized that the way he asked that pissed me off a little. "Oh, so you believe in the Chupacabra, but ya don't think that one day the dead could come back and walk the earth?"

His eyes narrowed. "I know what I saw girl, but I ain't never seen a dead man try ta naw my ears off. And you gotta be pretty damn stupid to believe in it."

"Stupid huh? Doncha know that anything's possible? I mean, everyone freaked out when we first ran inta aids. And now we got ebola. How do ya know that we won't ever run inta some kinda disease that could make us rotting cannibals?"

He smirked at me, showing me his surprisingly white teeth. "Ya know what I think? I think ya lost some of yer brain cells from all that whiskey."

I glared at him. "Yer jus' mad cause ya know that if it ever really did happened, I would survive way longer then you would."

He smiled at that. "Whatever. Do ya even know how ta hunt? Track?-"

"I know how ta hunt and track Dixon."

"Okay, what 'bout weapons? Ya know how ta shoot?"

I leaned in a little closer and smiled at him. "I know how ta fire off a shotgun. Would you like for me to demonstrate it to ya? Maybe I could use that big head'a yers as a target. Or I could aim a little lower, go for the other head."

He scoffed again. "A shotgun, really? According ta that movie, those things are attracted ta noise. Me and my crossbow would last a lot longer then you and a loud ass shotgun."

I stood up straighter while saying, "Go fuck yerself Daryl."

He chuckled at me. "You can go a round on me any time ya want KJ, but first...you and I got some business ta take care of. Yer gonna come ta my house everyday after work so's I can train ya."

My eyebrow raised at that. "Train me? The hell you talkin' 'bout?"

"The crossbow is mine, but I'm gonna show ya how to shoot a bow 'n arrow. You really think the dead could come back? Then you and me are gonna prepare for it."

This time it was my turn to scoff at him. "Are you bein' serious? Or are ya jus' fuckin' with me?"

He smirked at that. It was a cocky expression that angered and turned me on at the same time. "I'm dead serious. I got a bow and a few arrows. We can go in the woods and set up some targets. Once ya get the hang of it, I'll take ya huntin' with me. You say you can track and hunt, but I bet ya can't skin yer prize, or know how ta cook it."

I stepped back and rubbed my face a little from the aggravation. Part of me wants to tell him no and to go home, but the other part of me thinks this might be fun. I don't know if I believe that the dead can really come back to life, but I do believe that one day we'll go through something equally catastrophic. It wouldn't hurt to learn how to fend for myself out in the wild, and what better teacher then Daryl Dixon?

The only real problem I have with this, is his brother. Merle scares the shit out of me. He's hateful, rude and rough. Not to mention an alcoholic, druggie asshole. On top of that, every time that sicko sees me he hits on me. Like full force and says nasty sexual things to me. I mean, Daryl can flirt with me a little raunchy sometimes too, but he's playful about it. I'm not saying Merle's some kind of rapist, but I definitely don't trust him around me.

I've known the Dixon brothers for about two years now, never really having any type of personal conversation though. I've accepted that I have a bit of a crush on Daryl, so maybe this will be good. Hanging out with him and hopefully getting to know him a bit better. There's just one thing I needed to clear up in order for me to agree with this. "What about Merle? No offense, but I don't really wanna be around him."

He didn't seem very surprised or offended by my concern. "Merle ain't gonna bother us. We'll jus' keep what we're doin' quite for now. It ain't nobody's business any-damn-way. So you in or what?"

I let out a sigh and decided to put my trust in the younger Dixon. "Fine, but yer ass is pickin' me up from work everyday at five. And there better not be any funny business while we're out in them woods. I ain't afraid to pepper spray yer ass."

He let out a chuckle. "Alright, I'll be seein' you tomorrow then, so be ready. I ain't gonna go easy on ya jus' cause yer a chick either."


	2. SO IT BEGINS

I woke up this morning probably more excited then I should've been. I didn't sleep much last night because I kept thinking about how entertaining my training sessions with Daryl is gonna be. When I got out of the shower, I decided that I should 'dress for the occasion'.

I found a tight fitting, button-up red flannel shirt and ripped the short leaves off of it. I bounced up and down in my room as I forced myself into my black skinny jeans, making sure to wear a thong underneath so that my ass would look perfect in 'em. I put on my ankle high, dark brown boots that had camouflage on the tounges and bottoms. Then I decided that throwing my long hair into a high sloppy bun would be for the best. I even found a pink camouflage bandanna to hang from my right butt pocket. Of course mimicking Daryl's 'dress code' wouldn't give me the skills he possessed, but I thought it was funny.

The work day went by agonizingly slow. We had literally three customers all day and obviously, my anxiety wasn't helping either. When five o' clock rolled by, I rushed into the office to clock out. I slung my small purse onto my shoulder and decided to go outside and smoke a cigarette as I waited for my ride.

About half way through my cigarette, I heard the low rumble of an old Ford pick up pull into the parking lot. Daryl hopped out and shut the door with a bit of a creaky sound before making his way over to me. I took another drag as I watched him stop a few feet in front of me. His eyes moved up and down my figure, almost as if he was memorizing it while a smile appeared on his usual stoic features. He let out a huff and asked, "What's all this? Ya tryin' ta mock me girl?"

He tried to sound mad but I knew he was totally amused with my choice of today's attire. "You said to be ready." I flicked my cigarette out into the parking lot and walked up to him to poked his forehead, then making my way to the passenger seat while saying, "Let's go slow poke, before I change my mind."

The ride to his small two bedroom, one bath home only took like fifteen minutes to get to. It had a large, run down two car garage behind it to the right. Little knickknacks and junk laid about the yard. We got out of the truck and I followed him behind the garage. There sat a beat up automatic four wheeler. It was a dark green and was definitely a two seater. The 'holding rack' on the back of it had a small cooler bungie strapped to it.

I gave him a questioning look as he fished for the keys in his pocket. When he noticed he said, "I already got a set up in a pretty clear space 'bout a quarter of a mile from here. We're gonna take the four wheeler through the trails ta get there."

I shrugged my shoulders and hopped on the part that was obviously for a passenger. "Alright, let's move out. I wanna have a decent amount of practice before we loose the light."

He smirked at that. "Eager huh?" He nodded to the object behind me. "You can put yer bag in the cooler, so's it don't snag on the trees. Hate for ya ta loose an arm on the way there."

I did as he suggested as I felt the four wheeler dip down some from under his weight. He started the engine and we made our way through the tree line. I kept my hands in my lap as we rode through a semi straight pathway, every once in a while I'd sway or duck to avoid being whacked by a branch or other plant life. After about ten minutes of that he slowed down into a halt.

He turned to me and spoke loudly so I could hear him over the engine. "Ya ever rode a four wheeler before?!"

I felt a little embarrassed answering him. "Um...n-no! I haven't!"

"Alright, I need ya ta listen close! Yer gonna have ta hold onto my waist the rest of the way! Whenever we go up a hill, I need ya ta lean into me as much as you can and hold on tight! When we go down, lean back! Think you can handle that?!"

I hesitantly put my hands on his sides, gripping tightly to his shirt. "Yeah! I got it!"

He shook his head. "No, ya don't! Holdin' on ta my shirt ain't gonna cut it KJ! Ya gotta wrap yer arms around my waist, some of these hills are pretty steep!"

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I let got of his shirt. I wrapped my arms around his strong torso and squeezed tight. All this talk about steep hills has me a little freaked out. I didn't feel like falling off and bustin' my ass today. "O-okay! I'm ready!"

He said one last thing before turning back around, "Whatever ya do...don't let go of me!" I swallowed the lump in my throat.

And with that, he took off. I don't know how fast we were actually going, but I felt like I was flying. I felt myself holding onto this man for dear life as my adrenaline kicked in. We were going so fast, the wind was hurting my eyes. I felt like I couldn't keep them open anymore so I tucked my face into his back. Even though his back felt hard and muscular, it still felt comfortable.

As we weaved around the crazy path, I made sure to listen to his instructions. Leaning into him as we went up a hill and having him lean back into me as we went down. Not letting go, even though it was kinda hard to keep my grip. I was scared but excited at the same time. I couldn't hold in my laughter as we rode the woodsy roller coaster. The only thing I could think of was: this is amazing.

The feeling of my stomach dropping as we went fast down a hill. The struggle of keeping my hold on him and fear of flipping over as we raced up a hill. It was all so frightfully amazing. Even over the engine and my own laughter, I could hear Daryl's joyful wales. At one point he lifted his left fist in the air, screaming, "WHOOOO-HOOOO! HELL YEAH!" That only caused me to laugh even harder. It really made my heart do flips, to see this man having so much fun.

I could picture a huge smile on his face as I ran through my thoughts. This little ride was starting to make me realize how much adrenaline can actually effect someone. It almost felt like a high. I told myself that I could easily put down the whiskey bottles and exchange them for this. For him.

We stopped in a small clearing that was surrounded by trees. I hopped of the mini roller coaster and took in my surroundings. I saw a camouflage recurve bow sitting next to a quiver with a thick camouflage strap, leaning against a large tree. Next to that laid Daryl's crossbow. I slowly walked over to the objects with a smile on my face, quickly noticing what was on the tree. It was a regular piece of white paper with a target circle drawn in red marker. I giggled at the fact that I thought it was cute. I thought that simply because it was Daryl that drew it.

I couldn't help myself, I reached down and picked the bow up. It was made with a type of heavy metal that felt just like a handgun. It weighed almost as much as my pistol. "Ya ready?"

His sudden question startled me, but I recovered quickly. "When you said you had an extra bow, I figured it'd be a nice huntin' bow. Not a normal one like this. What the hell?"

He huffed and picked up the quiver, mumbling, "That's all the pawn shop had yesterday. Turn 'round."

I laid the bow on the ground and turned my back to him while lifting my arms out. He placed the quiver on me and turned me to face him so he could adjust the strap. That's when I realized what he said. "Wait a minute. Yesterday? You went out and bought all this yesterday? I thought you said ya had an extra one?"

He scoffed before walking over and picking up his crossbow. "Yeah well, I lied. I wanted ta show you how ta shoot, 'cause as ya are, you'd be worthless in a Geek raid."

What he said shocked me. "Geek? Is that what we're callin' 'em now?" He just smirked at me, so I continued. "So let me get this straight. You went out and got all this, just ta show me I'd suck in a zombie apocalypse? Which by the way, you don't even believe could really happen."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Ya gonna jus' stand there and yab away? Or are ya gonna get yer ass over here and learn from a pro?"

I let out a sigh as I swiped the bow up from the ground. I held it in my left hand and used my right to slide an arrow out of the quiver on my back. Attaching the end of the arrow to the thick string was the easy part, trying to pull it back however, was harder then I thought it would be. I pulled as hard as I could, but could only get the string to bend a little. I couldn't help but let out grunts as I pulled harder and harder. The muscles in my forearm started to ache, so I stopped and let out the large amount of air I was holding. "Son of a bitch! I can hardly get it ta budge!"

Daryl laughed at me as he pulled the string of his crossbow back. It gave out a hard click, letting us know that it was set. Then he slid an arrow into it. "Yer gonna have ta use the muscles in yer biceps and shoulders ta get that string ta load. Try ta breath in as yer doin' it. A deep breath." He aimed his crossbow at the target circle, holding it almost in the same stance you would a shotgun. He only had to aim for like three seconds before he pulled the trigger. His arrow went right into the bullseye. "Once it's loaded, and ya know yer grip is strong, slowly release that breath. Calm ya breathing as ya take aim. Take yer time for now, once ya get use ta it though, ya gonna have ta learn how to quick aim. The more you reload that bow, the easier it'll be. Eventually you'll get faster. Both arms will get stronger. Now...try again."

He went and pulled his arrow from the target as I lifted the bow and arrow back up. I took in a huge breath and pulled as hard as I could, focusing strongly on using my biceps more then my forearms. Trying to also use the muscle from my right shoulder blade. I struggled with it for a few seconds before I felt the string pull all the way back. I let go of my breath, the end of the arrow barely reaching past my right shoulder. I smiled. "I got it." The string, once you pull it so far, it gets a lot easier to pull it the rest of the way. It's only hard to pull it past that first few inches. I don't have to use as much muscle to necessarily hold it in place.

I heard Daryl's foot steps move behind me. "Nice. Yer quick. Now, spread yer legs a lil', give ya self stronger footing." I did as he said, spreading my legs almost shoulder length. "Okay, ya see that circle?"

There was a little circle sticking out of the left side of the bow, barely above where my arrow tip was placed. "Yeah?"

"Use that ta aim. Try ta remember it's slightly above yer arrow, so yer gonna aim it a little bit above yer target. Not too much though." My eyes narrowed as I looked through the circle, I placed the center of it a little bit above the bullseye. "Time yer breathin' jus' right. That circle's gonna rock on ya as you aim. Just calm ya breathing, let go when it feels right."

He was right, the circle and the arrow tip slightly rocked with my breathing. I tried to slow down my beating heart and focus hard on my target. After a few seconds, I felt okay, so I let go. The arrow zipped through the air, giving off a quiet whistle. It stuck into the tree with a strong thud. I lowered my bow and tried to calm my excitement. My adrenaline was so high, it took me a moment to focus my vision on the target circle. When I did, I saw that my arrow was stuck in the middle of the circle. Half way to the bullseye and halfway from the outside.

I heard Daryl let out a 'hmph' from behind me as I just stared at the target. "Ya missed...but yer a natural. With a lil' more practice...you'll be able to wield that thing like it's nothin'."

I couldn't hold in my excitement anymore as a giggle escaped me. "I can't believe I did it! I can't believe I shot my first arrow and still stayed in the circle!" I turned and looked at him. He was smirking at my childish reaction. "But you," I started, "you shoot those arrows like it's nothin', second nature or some shit...yer amazing Dixon."

He gave off a cocky smile. "Thanks sexy. Mine ain't called arrows though." He stepped closer to me and placed his right hand on my side, creeping his lips to my left ear as he whispered, "They're bolts." I blushed as he walked behind me. He pulled my arrow from the tree as I turned to face him. "Alright, we're gonna keep goin' 'til the sun starts ta set. I'll feed ya afterwards."

We stayed in the clearing and practiced for hours. He said he would teach me much more, but for today, it was just shooting. Being able to load the bow got easier as time went by. A lot of it, believe it or not, depended on one's breathing and knowing what muscles to access while pulling it back. My aim fluctuated. There were times I'd get closer to the center and times I got farther. I did get just a tensy bit faster with loading my arrows though. I haven't gotten any quicker with aiming yet, but Daryl said that would take time.

At one point, he pulled out a folded piece of paper along with a red Sharpie from his back pocket. He laid it on the seat of the four wheeler and drew another target circle, tacking it on the tree next to mine with some scotch tape he had in the cooler. He started firing off bolts from his crossbow, hitting the center almost every time. He was quick and focused as he did it. He made it seem so damn easy. At first, all I could do is stand there and watch him in awe. He was truly amazing and I could tell that he had years of experience with the silent weapon.

When the sun finally began to set, we gathered everything up and hid them in tall bushes that set behind our trees. We were both filthy and sweating as we hopped back on the four weeler and rode back to his house. The sky was a mixture of orange, red and pink hues as he parked behind the garage. I was pulling my purse out of the cooler as I watched him do a quick search around the outside of his house. I stood there watching him with confusion as he made his way back to me. "Merle musta stayed at his friends house. He's normally home by now. Come on in, you can wash up while I fix us up somethin' ta eat."

Once we got into his house I couldn't help but smile. You could tell it was a man's home, but it wasn't as filthy as I had imagined it'd be. He told me he would put a pizza in the oven and showed me to the bathroom. I decided to just go ahead and shower. I kept an extra pair of panties in my purse, which might sound weird, but I've been known to piss myself sometimes when I'm wasted. I learned quick enough to just go ahead and put a clean pair of underwear in my purse before I leave the house.

Once I had myself wrapped in a towel, I shoved my dirty clothes into a plastic grocery bag. I walked out of the bathroom and opened the first door to my left. It was littered with all kinds of stuff like empty beer cans/bottles and a few empty pill bottles as well. I automatically deducted that this was Merle's room and quickly shut the door. So I turned around and opened the door that was across the small hallway. I just figured this one had to be Daryl's so I went straight for his drawers. I soon found a simple black t-shirt that, of course, had the sleeves cut off. I slid into the shirt and it stopped at the middle of my thighs.

Shutting his door and quickly going back into the bathroom, I pulled my clean pair of pink panties from my purse and stepped into those. I brushed my hair and just left it down since it was still pretty damp. As I came into the living room, I saw Daryl sitting in the middle of the couch. He had one foot resting on the edge of a beat up wooden coffee table as his eyes landed on me. "Ya always go into a strangers home, rummage through their shit and steal stuff?"

I smiled at him. "If it makes ya feel any better, I played with myself in yer shower." That was a lie, but I like messing with him.

His face instantly went into his hand so he could hide his blush. I saw his smirk though. When he looked back at me, he asked, "Ya want a pair of pants or somethin'?"

I plopped down in the recliner and crossed my legs. "Nah I'm good. Pizza almost done though?" I looked at him for an answer, only to see that he was staring at my exposed thigh. "Ya know, I think there's a rule about teachers sleeping with their students. Wouldn't want ya to get in trouble, Mr. Dixon."

He scoffed, clearly upset about getting caught. "Keep runnin' yer mouth and I'll take ya in my office, beat yer naked ass with a ruler while you try ta balance a book on yer head."

He chuckled while my eyes grew wide, my stomach tightening as I tried to push back the blush. Then there was a loud beep that echoed through the tiny house. Daryl went to stand up, but I was quicker. "I...I'll get it." He smiled at my nervousness as I walked past the couch into the tiny kitchen. Damn him for that.

I shoved my hand into an oven mitt and pulled the pizza out, turing the oven off after. I got the mitt half way off my hand when I heard, "So-" of course that scared the shit out of me, so I jumped and quickly turned around, throwing the mitt at the person standing in the doorway. That person was obviously Daryl. He picked the mitt up from the floor and gave me a dirty look. "Really?"

I huffed to try and cover my embarrassment. "I can't help it, you scared me."

He shook his head and I turned around so I can start slicing the pizza as he talked to me. "We'll practice more shootin' the rest of this week. I'll give ya Sunday and Saturday's off, then next week we'll try ta practice with moving targets. Yer gonna have ta lern to shoot small, movin' targets fast. A Geek trys ta come for ya, ya gotta hit 'em in the head. Apparently that's the only way ta stop 'em."

I smiled and looked over my shoulder. "Shoot 'em in the head, huh?"

"Yeah, I got a theory 'bout 'em too."

I placed my focus back on cutting the pizza. "'Kay. Let's hear it."

There was a short pause before he began. "Geeks don't go after each other...only the livin', right?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Guess so. What about it?"

"Well, I figured someone might be able to cut into one of them sum-bitches, smear it's guts all over 'em. That might give ya some camouflage in a herd."

This time I put the pizza cutter down and faced him. "Shootin' 'em in the head? Herds? What else have ya learned about 'em? Ya already told me that noise attracts 'em." He just looked at me. As serious as ever. "Ya know, for someone that doesn't believe in somethin' like this...you sure as shit seemed ta have done a lot of research on it."

He didn't answer me so I just sighed and turned to start putting slices on plates. "I don't think they can climb. I don't think it takes jus' a bite from 'em either. A scratch might do it too."

I turned and offered a plate with two slices to him. He immediately picked one up and started chowing down. "Look, I agreed ta your little trainin' seasons cause I thought it would be fun and do me some good. I didn't know you were serious though. Especially since jus' yesterday ya called me stupid for jus' sayin' that anything's possible."

He talked with his mouth full. "What's it matter then? If you believe in it anyways?"

I glared at him. "Ya know what? Yer right. I forgot that this is comin' from the man that believes in the Chupacabra."

He stepped in front of me and sent me an agry glare. "I already told ya, I know what I saw."

"Yeah, right. In the mountains of Georgia? The Chupacabra is a Mexican ghost story. You know, from Mexico!"

What felt like mere seconds, he threw his paper plate on the floor and held me by the collar of 'his' shirt. He had a deep angry scowl and was so close, our noses almost touched. His voice dipping into almost a low growl. "You best stop mockin' me girl."

I couldn't stop myself from shivering under his touch. "W-why not? You did it ta me yesterday."

He let go of the shirt, but kept his stance. "And look where we are now. I'm trainin' ya...teachin' ya what it takes ta survive out there on yer own."

I tried to calm down as I spoke. "B-but why?"

He stepped back, doing a full circle as he paced and ran a hand through his short brown hair. "'Cause I can. 'Cause I'm bored and yer jus' entertainment for me. What's it matter anyway? You agreed to it, didn't ya?"

For some reason, his words actually hurt me this time. Because he can? Because all he sees me as is just a form of entertainment? He's the one that used his gas up to come to my work everyday at four o' clock, just to talk to me. Now he uses that gas to come pick me up everyday. Or what about the fact that he went to a pawn shop and bought the bow and arrows, just so he could do this with me? Is he really that bored, or am I a new type of hooker?

I sighed as he started picking up the mess he made on the floor. I quickly walked past him and headed for the bathroom, yanking my purse and bag of sweaty clothes from the floor. When I got back to the kitchen he was already mopping up the pizza, or what was left of it. So...I tried for the door. I got no more then three steps before he asked, "What are ya doin'?"

I turned and huffed. "I'm leavin' okay?! That way, ya ain't gotta worry 'bout me no more! You can have yer stupid shirt back tomorrow!"

"Ya can't walk home!"

"Watch me." As soon as my hand touched the doorknob, his arms wrapped around me, picking my feet up from the ground. I was so mad, I seriously growled at him while flailing my limbs around. "Grrrr! Why won't you let me leave?!"

He tightened his arms around my waist, making my muscles ache. "Look at what yer wearin' Kelsi! Ya can't walk home in that! Every sum-bitch in the neighborhood will try ta get ya to hop in their truck!"

"Why do you care?!"

He finally let my feet touch the floor, only for him to grip onto my shoulders and spin me around to face him. "I ain't gonna have some stupid bitch gettin' herself hurt on my conscience." Before I could protest, he turned and swiped my plate from the counter, shoving it into my arms. "Now eat."

I glared at him, but he just shook his head as he turned and went into the living room. I was so mad that I just started huffin' and puffin', breathing heavy through my nostrils as I took a bite of my pizza. Chewing it with a vengeance, trying to pretend that it was Daryl's hard head I was munching on.

I tried to ignore my anger and continue eating, until I heard him mumbling and knocking stuff over in the living room. I rolled my eyes and sighed through my nose, walking into the living room with a mouth full. His hands were gripping his hip bones as he paced back and forth in the small room. I shook my head at his actions while my eyes scanned the room, trying to find what he had knocked over. That's when I saw the upside down glass ashtray in the middle of the floor. It must of been full with the amount of ashes and cigarette butts that littered the already diry carpet.

I took another mouth full and pointed to the mess with my half eaten pizza. "What the hell is yer problem Dixon?"

Instead of getting even angrier, if that's even possible, he just plopped down on the couch. I watched him curiously as he slowed his breathing down, quietly telling me to, "Eat."

I stood there for a moment, trying to fight it off. This stupid guilt I feel for no damn reason. Maybe what pisses me off the most is the fact that I can't, for the life of me, figure this man out. So, I let out another sigh and silently sat next to him. I quickly finished off my first slice and motioned the second to him, "Here." He looked at the pizza like it was a foreign object, but I didn't care. The pizza he made was a small one, only big enough to cut into fours, giving us each two. As I was standing there watching him pace the living room, I thought, what if that's all he had? It was my fault he threw his food down, so...I'll share mine. He's the one teaching me to survive on my own, but...maybe I can teach him to survive together. Show him...that he doesn't have to always be on his own.

"I don't want it KJ. Jus' eat it."

I still held the plate out to him, patiently waiting for him to take it as I kept my gaze to the floor. "You do want it. Ya probably haven't ate all day, so jus' take it." He let out a defeated groan as he snatched the plate from my hands and immediately bit into it. "When yer finished, ya can drive me home. We'll practice more tomorrow. And maybe...maybe I'll fix us up some dinner and bring it with me." His response was just a simple nod of agreement and I couldn't help but watch him with a smile. I don't know if I really believe that the dead can come back...but if it does...we'll survive. We just have to teach eachother how.


	3. AIN'T YOU THAT VIDEO GIRL?

We practiced the rest of that week. Shooting arrows into inanimate objects, Daryl standing next to me on occasion to join in. He hit his mark nearly every time. He gave me the weekend off like he had promised, but it didn't matter. I took my bow and arrows with me, setting up pop cans and whiskey bottles in my back yard to practice on my own.

When that following Monday rolled by and we made it to our spot in the woods, he asked me to fire a 'test' shot before going on to moving objects. So, I loaded an arrow onto the string and let it fly, only using a couple seconds to aim. Bullseye! When I turned to see his reaction, 'stunned' was probably a good word to describe his expression. Luckily for me, I seem to be a pretty fast learner.

All of the second and third week into my training, we focused on moving targets. Starting with bigger objects, like a bail of hay, to an old stuffed animal, to beer bottles, to a piece of cardboard. All objects was tied with a string and hung by a branch as Daryl pushed it to make it swing. It took two weeks for me to get good enough to be 'promoted' to the piece of cardboard.

I almost shit myself when I first saw it. My mouth felt like it had dropped to the ground as I watched him attach the string to the top of it. He had cut it into a shape that resembled a person's head. It literally had a sad face drawn on it too. I immediately doubted myself. "How the hell am I gonna be able ta hit that? The wind'll make it flip while it swings."

He let out a small chuckle as he picked up his crossbow from the ground. "Yer gonna practice til ya get it. Ya said the same damn thing 'bout the movin' beer bottles KJ. So quit ya bitchin'" He gripped the 'head' and pulled it to an angle, letting go to make it swing left and right in the air. Quickly jogging over to where I stood, he lifted the crossbow up to his chin. The tip of the bolt swaying to match the motion of the moving object until he felt good enough to pull the trigger. His bolt swooshed through the air, passed right through the middle of the cutout and stuck into the trunk of the tree. Show off asshole.

And there went a whole MONTH of practicing with that. That's right, it took a whole month for me to get good enough to hit that target at least three times in a row. When Daryl had finally decided that I'm now an official archer, he finally took me out to hunt with him. I was already decent when it came to tracking and hunting deer, but squirrels, that was another story. Those little bastards can run. It definitely took me a long time to be able to bag those furballs without much problem.

Then one day I woke up and realized a full year had flew by. It had been a year ago today that I started my training with Daryl Dixon...and it began with us being bull headed. But in that year, Daryl and I did get a little closer. We weren't a couple or nothin', in fact, most would probably label us as friends. I'd say friends with benefits, since we did hook up a few times throughout the year, but it wasn't lovey dovey sex. It was just...well...sex. The first two times it happened, we were drunk. The third, well that was just a heat of the moment. However, he just simply calls us partners. As in huntin' partners. The weird thing about all three times though, he wouldn't let me take his shirt off.

I can admit that I've fallin' for that prick and I know he cares about me, but I don't know if he has those type of feelings for me. He's sorta awkward. It took him until just last month to finally open up to me about his family. How his parents were jerks most of the time, his momma burnin' herself to a crisp, Merle in and out of juvie when they were kids, his daddy in prison now for assault, but should be getting out soon. All the while, he's just survived by basically floating through life. Sticking close to his older brother. Merle most definitely isn't man of the year...but I have reasons to believe that Daryl almost sees him as a father figure.

And me...well I opened up to him a little too. I told him how I never knew my momma, since she died a year after I was born. I guess she had a heart attack and was just gone. My daddy? Well he wasn't as much of a dick as Daryl's, but he definitely wasn't grand either. He was a good father until I hit about twelve, after that he got hooked on all sorts of shit. Alcohol, heroin, downers then upers. Whatever he could get his hands on. His mother, my mamaw, helped take care of me until she died on my eighteenth birthday. I know right? Happy fuckin' birthday to me. After that I was on my own. Daddy disappeared on us when I was sixteen, I have no idea where he is to this day and I honestly don't care.

Oh, back to the whole Merle thing? Yeah well, we managed to stay out of his radar all year long, until yesterday that is. So...I guess I can take ya back for a minute.

We just got back from huntin'. We weren't gone long. I snagged two squirrels and a rabbit, while Daryl landed six squirrels. Of course, my stupid ass chose to wear daisy duke shorts to go huntin'. It was dumb of me because when I tripped over a branch, my left leg managed to get sliced open during my barrel roll down a hill. Whatever I hit cut me all the way across the front of my thigh, right under my shorts.

Daryl quickly helped me up and wrapped his arm around my waist as I wrapped one of mine over his shoulders. Good thing we wasn't too far from the house, so I didn't have to limp for long. As soon as we made it through the door, we dropped everything. I wobbled over to the sink so I could hold onto the edge of the counter.

Once he was finished pushing all of our stuff into a pile, he walked over to me and grabbed my hips, lifting me up onto the counter top. I sat as close to the edge as I could so I wouldn't get blood on my clothes. "Here." I looked up and saw him holding a damp rag to me. "Wash it off best you can, I got some ointment and bandages in my room."

I took it from him and began cleaning the cut as he disappeared into the living room. I tried to hold back the tears but hissed as the cold rag made contact to the still bleeding wound. It stung like crazy, but from what I can tell, it shouldn't need stitches.

It didn't take long for Daryl to come back with a roll of white bandage wrap and a tube of disinfectant ointment. By that time, I managed to get the cut pretty clean and the bleeding to stop, for the most part anyway. He sat what he had in his hands on the counter and stood slightly between my legs, reaching up to open the cabinet that was above my right shoulder.

I saw the bottle emerge from the cabinet and cringed. Hydrogen Peroxide. That shit usually didn't burn, unless the wound was kinda deep. My body shivered from the thought of pouring it on my leg. I was so caught up in my childish fears, however, that I was beyond weirded out when I finally saw Daryl unbuckleing his belt while still standing in between my knees. "W-what the fuck are you doin' Dixon?"

His belt was pretty much out of half his loops when I asked that. He paused and gave me a confused look before a smirk landed on his face. "Relax woman." He pulled the rest of the belt out like he was pulling a sword from it's sheath before handing it to me. "Take it." I took the belt from him and sat there frozen, staring at him as if he lost his mind or something. He grabbed the bottle of Peroxide in one hand and a gauze pad in the other. Once he saw my facial expression, he knew what I was silently asking. "I ain't gonna sugar-coat nothin'." He wiggled the bottle in his hand as if he was taunting me. "This is gonna hurt like hell. Put the belt in between ya teeth so ya got somethin' ta bite on."

I shut my eyes for a moment and let out a dramatically long sigh before mumbling, "Dammit." As he unscrewed the cap from the bottle and poured some onto the gauze pad, I tried giving myself a mental pep talk. 'Alright Kelsi, put ya big girl panties on and quit ya bitchin'. At least...that's what Daryl would normally tell me. He stood in front of me, patiently waiting for me with a cocky smirk plastered on his face. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Alright, take care of me Daryl." And with that, I put the leather belt in between my teeth and held onto the edge of the counter.

"Yeah...I'll take care'a ya." He placed his left hand on my inner thigh below the cut, his other hand hovering over with the gauze pad. "Ready?"

I reluctantly nodded my head and uncontrollably stiffened. Let me just confirm, that it most certainly did hurt like hell. I just clamped my eyes shut and bit down hard, my screams sounding muffled. My knuckles turning white as my grip continued to tighten on the counter top edges. It felt like it lasted forever when it all suddenly stopped. I must of zoned out or something, because one minute I was fighting off the pain and the next thing I know, he was already wrapping the bandage around my thigh.

But, right as he clipped the bandage so it would stay on, we heard the door fly open. Both of us involuntarily jumped, our eyes growing wider by the second. It was Merle and he looked pissed. He looked angrily confused at the two of us. And here we are, me; sitting on the counter edge all sweaty with Daryl standing in between my thighs. His left hand still resting closely to my inner thigh where the clip was. And because the cut was conveniently close to were my shorts stopped, from Merle's point of view, it probably looked like Daryl was trying to reach for my lady parts. Awesome.

The searing grin on Merle's face made my stomach churn. "What the hell are you in here doin' baby brother?" My heart was pounding. It felt like someone was gonna just run in here screaming 'busted', even though we wasn't even doing anything. Daryl quickly straightened his posture and took a few steps back from me while I subconsciously closed my legs, trying to pull my shorts down as far as they would go at the same time. The older Dixon finally stepped in all the way, closing the door behind him while letting out a small chuckle. "I know you're not in here tryin' ta hit this broad on the counters that we prepare our meals on, little D."

Both of our cheeks turned completely red. Daryl let out a grunt and glared at his brother. "It ain't like that."

Merle just laughed at that, his eyes moving to and fro between us before finally stopping his gaze on me. "Ain't you that chick that works at Jacob's Video Store down the street?" My body was shaking I was so nervous. We stayed out of Merle's line of sight for a whole year. How can we get caught now? I tried to look at Daryl for an answer, but he kept his head low, absentmindedly chewing on his thumbnail. My mind started spinning, trying to come up with something to say, but Merle was an impatient man. "What's a matter lil lady? Cat got ya tongue? Or did my brotha gnaw on it so hard it quit workin', huh?"

Finally my fear began to transmit into anger. So, I decided to give him a glare of my own while answering his first question. "Yeah...I'm that chick from the video store down the street."

I saw Daryl give me a look in my peripheral, silently asking me why I had to be a smart ass. Merle started to step closer to us, until something caught his attention. He finally noticed the pile on the floor of the kitchen. Our weapons and dead prey. However his gaze went back to us when he heard me hop down from the counter. I kept my distance from Daryl though.

Merle just stared at us for a few seconds before slowly walking over to our pile. He gently scoops up the rope that held Daryl's six dead squirrels and examined it. "So," he started as he positioned himself in front of his younger brother, "you're replacin' yer dear older brother for video girl over here?"

"We just went and caught dinner Merle, I ain't replacin' nothin'."

I'm guessing Merle wasn't convinced because he tried to hit Daryl with the rope of dead animals, but Daryl quickly ducked so it hit the cabinets instead. "How long have ya two been poundin' it out behind my back, huh?!"

Daryl shoved him a little to get him to step back. "I already told ya it ain't like that bro! Will ya drop it now?!"

Merle took in a deep breath as he leaned his back against the fridge across from us, trying to calm himself down. He gave Daryl a serious look. "Alright then baby brother...explain ta me what this is. If ya two ain't been gettin' it on behind my back...then why the hell've ya been sneakin' her in ta my house? Huh? Ya think ol' Merle here was too stupid ta notice the girly pink socks she left in my bathroom last week? Is that it?" Both of our eyes went wide at that. You mean to tell me he knew for a whole week now? Our surprised looks just made him smirk. "That's right. I caught ya. Now answer me."

Daryl let out a long sigh, avoiding eye contact at first before finally addressing his brother. "Look Merle, I've...I've just been teachin' her ta hunt. That's it. We go out, tag us some game, come back and skin em, then she takes a shower and leaves. That's all this is."

He crossed his arms over his chest, his smirk becoming more prominent. "Teachin' her ta hunt, huh? How much she payin' ya?"

I decided to answer that, quietly saying, "I'm not."

His smirk quickly disappeared. "I know my lil brother ain't stupid enough ta give free handouts, we ain't a damn charity." He gave Daryl a stern look. "She at least payin' ya in pussy?"

It got quite after that. I could see Daryl inwardly struggling. He wanted to say no, but he also didn't want to anger his brother any further. So...I decided to take one for the team. He's had enough stress in his life and I don't want what we have to be over. "Y-yeah..." they both looked at me then. Merle grinning and Daryl gave me a look that read, 'what the hell are ya doin' KJ?' "We're...we're uh...huntin' partners...with benefits."

Merle laughed hard at that, so hard he actually had to grip onto his side and use his free hand to keep hold of the fridge. "Hu-huntin' partners with benefits, huh?" He asked in between chuckles. Once he finally calmed down enough to catch his breath, he looked at me with a large smile. "What kinda freak show shit are ya into video girl? Huh? Shootin' down furry creatures turn ya on? Get ya gears'a grindin'? That it? That why yer leg's wrapped up? Ya teachin' my lil bro freaky moves? Ask him ta cut ya while he fucked ya?" He let out another hard laugh as he looked at Daryl. "Huh baby brother? This crazy broad teachin' ya ta cut n' fuck?"

Daryl narrowed his eyes at Merle, obviously not finding the joke as funny as his brother. He must of finally had enough of Merle's laughter, because he let out an annoyed grunt before saying, "Will ya shut yer mouth already? Ya over grown ape."

Merle tried to force his laughter down as he opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. "Now, now lil bro. No need ta get ya panties in a pinch." He twist the bottle cap off and took a big swig. Then his eyes landed back on me. "So he teaches ya ta hunt in exchange for some pussy. Sounds like a good deal ta me. I can teach ya a few things for the same price. What ya say there video girl? Wanna learn ta drive a clutch, hot wire a car?"

I glared at him hard, my fists subconsciously clenching at my sides. Daryl's brother or not, this prick is askin' for it. "I ain't one of yer lil whores Merle, so go fuck yerself!"

He chuckled a little before taking another large drink of his Budweiser. "Not a whore huh? Then what the hell do ya perfer ta call it?"

I started to open my mouth to go at him again, but Daryl interjected. Instead of just opening to cuss up a storm, my mouth completely dropped. "She's my girl."

He said that right when Merle started to take another drink, so instead of going down his throat, he ended up spitting the mouth full all over the kitchen floor. "Yer girl?! What like a pet-"

"No...as in my girl, girlfriend...she's..." his eyes looked at me for a split second before landing back on Merle. "She's my ol' lady alright? She ain't available ta nobody."

Holy sweet mother of God...did Daryl Dixon just say I was his girlfriend?


	4. LIFE IS A TRICKSTER

Starting today I am officially Daryl Dixon's 'girlfriend'. Yeah right. Way to go Daryl. Ya know, I should be excited about this considering I do have feelings for him, but nope. I have no idea if Daryl really sees me as girlfriend material or not and I sure as hell don't wanna make him go through this if he don't. I get that he lied to protect me from Merle, but now everything's just gonna be complicated and awkward.

Wanna know what puts the cherry on top of the cake? William Dixon is a free man as of today at five o' clock. I don't know what'll happen if that asshole hears that his boy is 'off the market' now. I thought Merle would've flipped out, but life seemed to be playing tricks on me last night. Sure he was mad after Daryl oplenly told his brother that the video girl was his ol' lady, but then he inhaled an 18 pack of Budweiser in like an hour and a half.

It's literally been an hour since Merle found out that his baby brother has a lady and now he's on his sixteenth beer. This whole time I've stood back and watch Merle cuss Daryl better then any sailor, to the point where it even got physical for like five minutes. When Daryl finally got Merle to calm down a bit, he dragged me out back to start a fire. Guess he thought that if we all sat down under the summer night sky around a bon fire, his brother might just relax a little. Kumbaya or some shit.

So, here we are now. The three of us watching flames do the jitterbug while both brothers had a beer in their hand. For once in my life I turned down the alcohol that was offered to me, I for sure wanna be sober right now. It was quiet for a little while, the only sounds to be heard was the wild life and surrounding cicadas singing to each other. Then Merle decided to interrupt that. "So," he started quietly. Daryl and I both watched him as we waited for him to continue. "you must really like this girl, if ya made her yer woman."

Daryl was quiet at first, it seemed like he was thinking hard before he let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, she's cool. Look, it's nothin' too serious Merle. We're jus'...testin' the waters is all. She's a good person...and she's been loyal ta me. Just chill out though brother, ain't like we're gonna up and get married tomorrow."

I watched Merle sit there, deep in thought, so I added my two cents into it. "We're just more like, real good friends. He's been helping me learn ta shoot and hunt better. I've been bringing yall's dinner over for the past year in return. Like he said, it ain't that big between us."

My nerves are going haywire the quieter it gets. Seems like Daryl's in the same boat I'm in as we watch Merle sit there with his chin to his chest. Don't really wanna be in the middle of these two fighting again, but I'm kinda shit out'a luck without a way to get home. Unfortunately, I know this seems crazy but, I never learned how to drive. And I sure as shit ain't gettin' in that truck with a tipsy Daryl. Looks like I gotta stay the night in this hell house.

My train of thought came to an abrupt end when Merle began to chuckle. Daryl and I looked at each other completely confused before looking back to the oldest Dixon. He finally slowed his laughter down enough to speak after a few seconds. "Damn...I've been wonderin' why my worthless ass brother suddenly took up cookin'. Not ta mention it tasted better than any platter of shit he'd serve up." Daryl smirked and shook his head, but I full blown smiled. Is that acceptance I hear? "Well then video girl-"

"Uh...it's Kelsi, actually. Kelsi James." I stood and held my hand out to the man so many are afraid of. The man that was the leader of a biker gang known as the Savage Sons. The man that wined and dined in all sorts of drugs. I stood in front of this man with my head held high and no fear on my face. "It's good ta properly meet ya, Merle Dixon."

He smirked up at me and grabbed my hand firmly as he stood up. He towered over me and gave me a strong hand shake. "Kelsi James...hmph...ya know...yer alright girly." I couldn't help but smile again. He let go of my hand and walked over to his brother. Merle grabbed a hand full of Daryl's shirt and pulled him up into a side hug, Daryl gruntin' in protest the entire time. "Yup lil bro...ol' Merle is a man that will admit his defeat-"

Daryl smirked and interjected him with a light, "Yeah right."

Merle, however, ignored him and went on. "I can rightly say ya picked a good one. In fact," he smiled real big. "I think we outta formally welcome her inta the family. What'dya think about that son?"

Daryl smiled and at that point, I was starting to get a lil' freaked out. "Hmph. I think that's the best idea you've had all night bro."

Okay, now I'm freaked out and confused. There was no time to figure it out though, 'cause the next thing I know, Daryl's holding me under my arms while Merle grabs a hold of my feet. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you-" I couldn't finish my sentence 'cause I was too busy making a weird squeally sound as they lifted me up. I didn't know what they were tryin' to do, but all I could think about was wiggling my way outta their grip.

Then, SPLASH! That's right folks. Those dick heads tossed me into the biggest freakin' mud puddle they could find, then stood over me and laughed as I struggled to stand back up. I kept slipping and face planting right back into the mud, gettin' more and more angrier as their laughter got louder. "Oh fuck both'a ya!" That didn't do anything but make them hold onto their knees 'cause their laughter was gettin' harder. "Yeah...keep laughing." I tried to stand up again for the third time and once again slipped. "I hope you bitches choke and die laughin'."

Daryl slowed his laughter down into a light chuckle as he wiped his eye. "Oh come on now KJ. We're jus' messin' with ya." He bent down and grabbed a hold of my arm, pulling me back to my feet. I kept a hold of his biceps to keep from falling again. "See, yer alright girl. It's jus' a lil' fun."

I glared at him at first, until it turned into a malicious smile. "Nah, nah. Yer right Daryl. This is fun." And with that, I shoved him as hard as I could into the mud. Of course he tried to use me as leverage by holding tight to my waist, so I fell on top of him.

Here I am. Straddling my 'boyfriend'. The both of us covered in mud while Merle laughs his ass off above us. I slowly lifted my head up from his chest, using the back of my right hand to wipe as much of the sticky dirt from my eyes as I can. During my temporary blindness, I could feel what I assumed was Daryl trying to wipe his eyes clean as well. As soon as I thought it was as good as it's gonna get, I opened my eyes and look down. Laughter escaped me almost instantaneously. The look on his face was so priceless. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me, but I could tell he was trying to hold back his own laughter. He let out a sigh while shifting around and trying to wiggle out from underneath me. That didn't seem to last long though, he soon stopped after letting out a hiss. I could tell by his face that something wasn't right. "You okay," I asked him quietly enough that I knew Merle wouldn't be able to hear over his laughing spell.

He grunted and wiggled a bit to his left before nodding. "Yeah, think I landed on a rock or somethin'." I nodded my acknowledgment and decided it was time to get up, which I tried to do, but unsurprisingly fell on his legs. He let out another grunt of pain before pining a glare on his brother. "Merle! Why don't ya stop actin' like a damn hyena and help us up?!"

Merle shook his head and wiped a tear from under his eye before finishing off the last mouthful of his beer, tossing the glass bottle into the fire once it was empty. "Alright, alright." He leaned in and wrapped his right hand around my bicep while grabbing ahold of my right hand with his left one. "Come on Hollywood. Ready?" I nodded my answer before he gave me a hard tug out of the mud puddle, keeping his grip tight on me until my feet was steady. He soon let go of me and bent down, taking grasp of his brothers hand before pulling him up quickly and effortlessly. Daryl and I stood next to each other as Merle looked us over, wiping his now mud covered hands onto his jeans. "You two kids go on in and tidy up. Put ya makeup back on. I'll stay out here and kill the fire." We both nodded our agreement and started making our way to the house, stopping for a second as Merle continued. "And don't yall be hittin' it in my shower neither! Ya ain't too old ta get a beatin' from ol' Merle!"

Looks like Daryl can be a gentleman when he wants to be, since he let me take the first shower. I tried to take one as quick as I could while still making sure I came out completely mud-free. Once I was finished, I did stand there for a minute to the let the water wash most of the grime down the drain. Coming out of the shower, I quickly wrapped up in the towel laying on the toilet seat. I had already tied my dirty clothes up in a grocery bag before getting into the shower, so I made sure to grab that on the way out. Daryl was in the hallway when I stepped out. Sending him a smile I said, "Your turn cutie." He smirked and shook his had at me. Before he could shut the bathroom door, I added, "Hey. I'm gonna borrow one of your shirts again." I gestured down to the cut on my thigh. "And some more bandages too."

He peeked his head back out the door and narrowed his eyes at me. "Oh, so now yer askin'?"

I couldn't help but giggle at him. "Didn't ask...I was just lettin' you know. Oh, and another thing, looks like I'm stayin' the night so where should I sleep?"

He gave me a weird look as if he was going to ask me something, but I guess he just let it go. Instead, he stood there for a moment, thinking to himself before finally answering me with a low voice. "You can, uh,...sleep in my room. Go on, be there in a minute. Oh and, put some more ointment on that too. Don't want the stupid thing gettin' infected."

"Alright. Thanks." And with that, he shut the door as I turned into his room. Opening his drawer, I found an old worn out plaid button up shirt, which, like most of his shirts, had the sleeves removed. I swear, Larry the cable guy would be so proud. I didn't have to worry about undoing the first couple of buttons, since those are not even attached anymore. The shirt fell down to the middle of my thighs after I slipped my extra pair of clean panties on. I wasn't really sure what to do with my hair, since I forgot to put my brush in my purse. Luckily enough I had an extra hair tie usually wrapped around my wrist, so, I gathered all but my bangs up and tossed it into a sloppy bun once I was finished towel drying it. I also quickly redressed the still opened cut across my thigh.

Soon as I finally sat on the lumpy mattress, in walked a fully clothed Daryl, sporting a sleeveless gray tee and black sweat pants. The first thing he did was deposit his dirty laundry in a black basket by his dresser. But once he turned around and saw me, he couldn't help but shake his head and smirk. "Ya wanna borrow some pants THIS time?"

I just shrugged my shoulders and laid on my back, from my knees down were still hanging over the edge. "Eh, I'm good. I'll get too hot if I sleep with pants on."

He plopped down on the mattress to my right while letting out a long sigh. It was silent for like, five seconds before his head landed on my stomach with enough force to make me grunt a little. He just laughed at me while I cursed under my breath, then his right forearm claimed the top of my thighs as it's resting place, making sure to avoid the bandaged wound. We both found ourselves relaxed in the peaceful quiet, the occasional sounds of Merle rummaging through the kitchen in the background. But then I decided to get curious. "Hey, Daryl?" I addressed him with a hushed tone, and the way he responded, let me know how tired he really was.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about your crossbow."

His head shifted a little before finding a more comfortable spot. The weight and warmth of him resting on my stomach actually started to feel good. "What do ya mean? What about it?"

I couldn't help but place my hand into the bed of his hair then. It felt so soft and thick too. My eyes shut on their own as I massaged and scratched his scalp. "I don't know. Why a crossbow?"

He let out another sigh through his nose, I could feel his warm breath hit the parts of my thighs that weren't covered by his arm. "My, huh...my uncle Jess bought it for me as a birthday gift. He takes Merle and I huntin' a lot up in Cabot Ridge. He's got a cabin out there. We plan on headin' up there in a few weeks. I already told him you were comin', so you'll meet him then."

I couldn't stop the smile. "Oh yeah? Ya just invite me without even askin' me?"

"Tch, well duh. Haven't ya learned this past year that you go where I go? It's even easier now, since everyone thinks yer my ol' lady."

I bopped him on the head. "Yeah and ya didn't discuss that one with me either."

He quickly scratched the part that I hit. "Like there was any time to discuss it. I was tryna keep Merle from jumpin' both our assess."

"And us being a couple was the first thing to pop up in that empty head of yours?"

"What's it matter anyhow? Ya like me, right?"

I let out a sarcastic laugh at that. "If I didn't like ya, I sure as fuck wouldn't spend so much time around ya."

He gave my knee-caps a tap like I did to his head. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin'. Okay, next question."

"Whoa, whoa. What do ya mean 'next question'? What is this, twenty questions yer tryin' to play?"

"Shut up and just answer 'em. It ain't hard questions."

He let out another irritated sigh and swiped his hand over his face. "I guess."

I thought for few seconds what I was gonna ask him. My goal is to get to know him a little better, but I know not to ask anything too personal. "Okay...do you like Lynyrd Skynyrd?"

"Psh. We live in Georgia, right? 'Course I like 'em. They're probably one of the few bands I can really listen to."

"Alright, alright. What about Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr?"

"Yeah. I think I like Jr a lil' more though."

At this point my grin has transferred into a full smile. "Johnny Cash?"

"Yup."

"Awesome. You like the same music I like."

He chuckled a little. "Merle likes David Allan Coe."

My laugh escaped me before I could even think about holding it back. "Merle would like David Allan Coe."

Mere minutes after that, we both ended up passing out in that same position. When I woke up, Merle was already gone. Dary and I shared a cup of coffee and that's when he chose to inform me of his dad coming home today. That was this morning. Here am I now, waiting. Waiting on what, you ask? Well, Daryl told me to wait til' he got his dad home, then he would call me and let me know how it went. However, the phone call I received, wasn't the one I was expecting.

Daryl told me he had plans to try and 'wean' my existence on his dad. To try and talk to him about who I am and what I am to his youngest son. You see, his dad is going hunting with us at his uncle's cabin. So he was going to find out about me anyway. Daryl thought it would make things easier if he just talked to Will, instead of me just showing up. But I guess life decided to mess with me again.

I didn't have work today, so I've just been keeping myself busy with tidying up the house. I made sure to keep my cell phone on me the entire time, waiting for Daryl's call. I was so nervous about how his dad would react to me. Over the year, he's told me a few stories about how aggressive, hateful, racist and down-right cruel his father can be. So at this point, I don't know what I'm getting into.

Transporting my basket of dirty clothes to my laundry room is when the phone call finally came. I was so lost in my own world, that the sudden loud ringing actually scared me. Making me jump and spill every article of clothing onto the hallway floor before I was able to fish it from back pocket. "H-hey. I was wondering when you'd call."

The first thing I heard was glass breaking, followed by a lot of yelling in the background. I couldn't make out everything that was said, but whoever it was, they could cuss even better than Merle. "We, uh...we got a problem."

That worried me. His tone sounded very pissed and very serious. "What do you mean? Is he really that shitty because you have a pretend girlfriend?"

I could hear him let out a heavy breath through his nose. "Heh, I ain't even had a chance to mention you yet."

Placing my phone in a position where I can hold it up with my shoulder, I squatted and started tossing my laundry back into the basket. "Okay. So I'm not in trouble yet. If it ain't about me, then what the hell's got him all riled up? He just got outta jail like an hour ago."

The sound of a door shutting came through, on top of the background cursing becoming a lot more muffled. He must've gone in his room. "Yeah well, as we was walkin' out, Merle was walkin' in."

"What? Now Merle's locked up? What the hell for?"

He pushed out an exhausted sigh. "I don't know. They wouldn't tell us much. Just that they caught him with his stupid ass merchandise. I told him he was an idiot for walking around with that shit."

"Yeah, but the cops must've had a reason to search him. Ya think someone tipped 'em off?"

"I got a good feelin' it's got somethin' to do with the club. Dad's been on one since I got him home though. I think it's best if you stay away from here til' we head out in a few weeks. Maybe he'll be calm by then. Hard to tell though, since none of us have the money to bail that oaf out right now."

While he was talking, I dropped the basket off into the laundry room and found a seat on my living room couch. "What about practice? We was gonna train some more before the huntin' trip."

"Yeah that's the other thing. My crossbow's been missin' since earlier. Think Merle had somethin' to do with it since ain't nobody else been here."

This time, the sigh was escaping from me. "Why would he take ya crossbow?!"

"Who knows KJ. He's my brother but he's an asshole. I gotta stay here with the old man anyways. Don't want him to do somethin' dumb enough to land him back in Fontana like Merle is. Ya just gonna have ta practice on ya own. I'll pick ya up in a few weeks and we'll ride to Cabot Ridge together."

"Fine. I'm gonna get off here and finish my laundry. Try not to fight with him Daryl. My leg should be healed up by the time we go, so I don't wanna see any marks on you."

"Hmph. Ain't got nothin' to worry about with me. Later."

Another sigh left me as I put the phone down. This is just great. Now Will's gonna be all pissed about Merle. So throwing me into the mix is probably just gonna stir some more shit up. Daryl told me that his uncle Jess and Buck, his dad's friend, are okay. I guess Jess has been somewhat of a father figure for Daryl as well, so according to him, I should be accepted by him. His exact words to me this morning was, 'If ya do right by him, he'll do right by you'. So now all I have to worry about is William Dixon. Maybe if Daryl and I partner up and track away from his dad...things will be okay. Maybe.


	5. SORRY, BROTHER

"Damnit! It was just here like, five seconds ago. How can that son-of-a-bitch be gone?"

"Well, if ya'd shut ya damn mouth, we might be able to find it."

"What are ya tryin' to say Dixon? That it's my fault it took off?"

"Will you keep quiet already? And get your lil' ass over here and help me track it, 'fore the damn thing gets any farther."

"Little? My ass isn't little! It fits all right in yer big-ass hands, don't it?"

"Oh, it fits alright. I'mma come over there and squeeze the mother fucker 'til it pops if you don't get over here."

"I swear, I will fuckin' shoot you-"

"Oh, don't lie to ya self KJ. You would be lost without me."

"Yeah well, you'd probably cry like a lil' bitch if I was gone."

"Not at the rate yer goin'. How many times I gotta tell ya? Bring yer ass over here and help me follow it's tracks!"

This hunting trip just started and its already turned to shit. Daryl and I rode out here together. I met his uncle Jess and his dad's friend, Buck. Like Daryl told me weeks ago, those two were pretty decent. Neither of 'em had a problem with me being here. In fact, they decided to wage a bet with me, who ever came back with the most game, would win thirty dollars cash. But Will, just like I had figured, he wasn't as accepting. Even with Merle's ass being stuck in the Police Department, Daryl still decided to introduce me to everyone as his girlfriend. Guess he figured they would be quicker to accept me if they knew that I meant enough to him to be his lady. It seemed to work all right for Jess and Buck.

Now that I think about it, I probably got the easier end of the deal. Will didn't cuss me like a dog, or dish out any sly remarks. To be precise, he didn't say anything at all. Sure he gave me dirty looks anytime I was even in his peripheral, but that's really it. It's pretty obvious the man didn't care for me much, but something kept him from openly expressing it. Daryl and I just agreed that life would be easier for us if we just kept to ourselves and ignored his stares. So, that's what we did. Will, Buck and Jess decided to stick together and head North, while Daryl and I partnered up and headed West.

Not too long ago, I spotted a buck. Out of nowhere the stupid thing just took off. Neither of us had even moved and I don't remember hearing or seeing anything else that would've made him bolt like that. Daryl has told me before that deer can sometimes sense when something bad is coming, but I don't get it. Normally, both of our instincts are pretty good at keepin' us out of too much trouble. So what is it that the buck could sense...but we couldn't? Unfortunately, my question was answered.

We were so concentrated on following the deer's trail, it didn't exactly register what was going on at first. When our brains finally decided to tune in, the screams and gun shots became crystal clear. I just had to ask though, to make sure it wasn't just me hearing shit. "Did-did you hear that?"

We both had already stopped, our bodies frozen. Daryl focused on his environment, the whole scene reminding me of an animal listening to it's surroundings. Then we heard it again, and it was blood-curdling. "That sounds like the old man. We gotta go! C'mon!" And with that he was off, me not far behind him. Daryl was definitely frantic and who wouldn't be after hearing their own father scream like that? My heart was even pounding through my ears. And that's when it finally kicked in, my instincts. My stomach churned and my heart felt like it was being stabbed every time another scream would echo through the air. When I started to hear Jess' heart-wrenching yelling, that's when my intinct told me that whatever this is, it's BAD.

"What in the hell! Dixon!" Jess' voice was getting closer now, we had to be literally seconds away from them. BANG! Oh no...that was another gun shot. "Ah Dix, naw, no man!" They were right ahead of us now and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were so many dead bodies, HUMAN bodies. One of them belonged to Buck. All I could see was Jess' back facing me, but I noticed that his right arm was bleeding pretty bad. Daryl stopped and once I finally caught up to him and stood to his right, I saw Will. He was barely alive, his stomach had literally been ripped open. It was so hard not to gag on the sight and smell of everything. Right when I was sure I was gonna hurl, Jess' voice caught my attention. "Daryl. Are you two okay?"

He ignored his question, however, as we both stepped closer to him. His entire focus was on his dad now and I couldn't stop myself from feeling pure sorrow as I watched him. His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open like a fish trying to catch it's breath. None of us could believe that any of this was real. "Dad-oh. Dad, no. We can-we could-" It's impossible, right? This can't be real.

But Jess' voice once again proved to me that this, this was really happening. Daryl had already crouched down by his father's side and Jess leaned in to look him in the eye. "Daryl, he's too busted up. Nothing can be done now except...ease his suffering." My hand immediately clasped onto my mouth. This is just crazy. This is just...it just can't be happening. Daryl's head hung low as his uncle spoke to him, we both knew what he meant.

Daryl shook his head briefly as he reached for his gun, not believing in this situation either. But he took in a sharp breath and cocked his pistol as he got to his feet. He pointed the barrel toward Will's head, who was barely able to keep hold of his breathing. His aim shook, however, and his face was tore up with pain as he fought hard to keep from weeping. He can't do it. His head dipped even lower as his arm dropped to his side. My heart fell as I watched him look away. So, Jess took the gun as Daryl glanced up at him for less then a second before backing away. He was slowly making his way towards me and once I saw Jess aim the gun once again to his half-brother's head, I decided that I had enough too. "Daryl." He looked up at me for only a moment before his hand coverd his eyes, his shoulders slacking from the weight of losing his father.

All I could think to do was wrap my arms around his neck. His forehead slammed into my chest as I gripped his head into my hands. I know I was crying, but Daryl...his body just shook as he continued to fight it. That's when I closed my eyes and listened to Jess' last words to William Dixon, my body jumping when the gun shot finally rang. "Sorry, brother." BANG!

As soon as we got back to the cabin, Daryl immediately headed for the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. I wanted to go and comfort him more, but I knew that he needed some time to himself. Not to mention that there are more important things to do right now. As Jess was locking the door, I decided to express what I think our first steps should be. "Hey, Jess?"

He sighed as he finished securing the door and pushed the keys back into his pocket. "What is it, girl?"

Looking at his arm while he cradled it in his other hand, then glancing around the cabin, I knew for sure what needed to be done. "We got enough wood pallets, we should barricade the windows. Just in case more of 'em head this way." He looked around and nodded his head in agreement. "We also need to take care of that arm of yers. I got a first-aid kit in my backpack." This is crazy and I know me and Daryl 'trained' for this exact event. But...part of me is still letting the reality of it slowly sink in. Deep inside I know, and I'm sure Daryl does as well, that Jess could very well turn into one of those things as time goes on. I keep trying to rationalize it though. There's no way that a bunch of geeks and Hollywood assholes was able to predict this. What if you don't turn from a bite or a scratch? What if those people turned because of something else? I ain't no scientists or doctor of any kind, but what I do know is...we're gonna have to keep our guard up around uncle Jess.

We quickly made work of nailing boards over the windows. The entire time I kept my quiver and recurve bow on my back. My gun stayed nuzzled into its holster on my thigh and my knife attached to my belt. Luckily I came on this trip wearing; ankle high boots, black jeans and a short sleeved camouflage t-shirt. My backpack had enough clothes to last me a week, a first-aid kit, some snacks and a case of extra bullets. There's still a little bit of room left in there in case we have to pick up some things along the way. Daryl and I decided to just leave our cell phones at home, so I wasn't able to even attempt calling for help.

As I cleaned and bandaged Jess' arm, I realized how long Daryl has kept himself locked up in that room. I felt so bad for him. He's told me how much of a dick his father was to him growing up, but that's just it. The man was still his father. No matter what our parents do to us, it's literally in our DNA-our genetic code to love them. We just can't help it. Same thing with my daddy. I try to convince myself all the time that if I ever saw that bastard again, I'd probably kill him. But the truth of the matter is, I have no idea what I would do. How I would react.

As soon as I was finished dressing his wound, my body automatically jumped at the sound of glass breaking in the other room. Inside I knew that Daryl had broken the mirror. "Good job Dixon, now you're addin' seven years bad luck to the mess." I said this mostly to myself, but I noticed the concern written on Jess' face.

We were standing by the table in the middle of the main room when Daryl finally joined us. Jess already getting to business before Daryl could even fully shut the door. "Daryl, come here. We gotta work up a plan."

Daryl took in a large breath before slowly letting it out, trying to push back his emotions to concentrate. As he made his way in front of us, he held his gaze on me. The look he was giving me was a silent, 'This is really happening.' All I could do was give him a look of pity and slightly nod my head, then he became more serious has he addressed his uncle. "Have you ever seen anything like that?"

Jess just shook his head while unconsciously rubbing his now bandaged arm. "If you told me about it I'd call you a liar."

That's when we heard the grunts, growls and scratches coming from outside. Damn, they found us already? Daryl looked around for a moment before speaking again. "Listen! There's more of 'em comin'."

Jess' body language became frantic as he immediately said, "We gotta go."

But, Daryl being Daryl, argued back with, "The only thing we gotta do, is kill every last one of 'em."

I turned towards the table and threw my backpack on over my quiver, then grabbing hold of my bow. I knew that silent weapons would make things a lot easier against those things, too bad Daryl doesn't have his crossbow. Right when we need it the most. "That's not an option macho man." Turning back towards Daryl, I made sure to give him a stern look to help get my point across. "You know damn-well there's too many of 'em out there for just the three of us to take."

Daryl scoffed, but Jess tried to reason with his nephew. "Daryl, I know you're upset, but listen. Kelsi's right, that sounds like a whole lot of 'em. We need to go. Now! Both of you, gather up as much as you can and meet me at the truck."

I nodded my head while Daryl let out a sigh before agreeing. "Let's go then."

Daryl swung his backpack onto his shoulders and as we was making our way towards the door, Jess added, "Daryl! Kelsi! Remember what we learned about 'em. Head trauma. Attack the BRAIN! Remember. Only thing we know that kills 'em. And be QUIET sneakin' out the back door. Don't let 'em see ya."

I smiled and assured him, "We know. Don't worry, we got this."

Daryl nodded. "We're gonna get the jerrycans. See ya at the truck."

Walking out the back door, we both slightly crouched to keep our footsteps light and quiet. I had my bow drawn and an arrow notched and laying on the arrow rest. This way I could quickly pull it back and be ready to aim at any target. But not even five feet out the door, there was already a geek waiting for us. It was crouched and munching on what was left of a racoon, it's back facing us. I pulled back my string and tried to aim for its head, but the way it was sitting I couldn't get a clear shot. Daryl saw this and quickly pulled out his knife. He crouched low to the ground and slowly made his way over to it. Grabbing its shoulder to keep a good grip on it, he immediately shoved the sharp blade into the back of its head. A low 'crunch' came along. This made my stomach churn a little. I've killed plenty of animals, all for the purpose of eating them, but never a human. Then again, are these 'things' even considered human anymore?

Once Daryl was back at my side, we made our way toward the back of the cabin, heading for the open shack that's used to hang deer as well as hold tools. I spoke to him in a low whisper. "Daryl...I hate to say this, but...you know it's possible that Jess could turn into one of 'em. Right?"

He kept his knife drawn and stayed on his toes as he answered me. "Yeah, I know. Stay with me, don't be alone with him until we know for sure."

Keeping my gaze on my surroundings, I answered him with a quiet, "Alright." Now that we're on the pathway, I can see the two open sheds. There's one on the right of us housing a broken down car, and one right in front of us at the end of the pathway. Almost midway through, one of those 'things' caught sight of us and started limping its way toward us. Its arms stretched out just waiting to grab one of us. We needed to hit this thing while it's still a distance away. "I got 'er." I quietly informed Daryl as I took aim. It took maybe five seconds for that thing to drop from the time I first pulled my arrow back. My arrow slapped that bitch right in the middle of her cold, dead forehead. Once we got closer to the now unresponsive body, Daryl made sure to pull the arrow from her head for me. He found the 'cleanest' spot on her jeans and wiped the arrow tip on it, essentially getting all the blood and brain matter off. When I retrieved it from him, I put it right back into position so I would be ready for the next dead mother fucker to hobble my way.

We can already see another geek crouched inside the shed at the end. It was missing an arm and snacking on one of Jess' deer carcasses. Before we got too close, Daryl nodded toward it and whispered, "Go on KJ. Use ya knife and hit it hard enough to go deep."

My face scrunched up at that. "What? Why me?"

But obviously, he wasn't having it. "Because you're gonna have ta get use to it anyway Kelsi." The usage of my real name and how angry he sounded when he said that, I knew that he was still pissed. But when he spoke again, it seemed like he was mostly saying it to himself. "We ALL have to."

I let out a quiet, aggravated sigh. Deep down, however, I knew he was right. I WOULD have to get use to it. So, I slipped my arrow into its quiver and pulled out my hunting knife. I handed my bow to Daryl as I shimmied my way over to it, trying my best not to gag. The sound it was making as it devoured the remains of that deer, it was like someone chomping their lips as they ate in a quiet restaurant. Only fifty-times worse. And the smell, the smell is just sickingly unbearable. But I mentally told myself to suck it up, and thought back to how Daryl had handled the first one by the cabin door. I wanted to be fast, so I quickly and harshly grabbed hold of the back of its neck and shoved my knife into his skull as hard as I could, burying the blade all the way to the hilt. Before it could drop, I placed my left foot in between its shoulder blades and used that as leverage to pull my knife out, quickly wiping the blade clean once it was.

It did bother me for a second, but as Daryl handed my bow back to me and gave me a quiet, "Nice one KJ." I knew that I can't LET it bother me. These people aren't alive anymore. And the way I see it, I'd hope that someone would put me to rest if I had turned. While Daryl snatched the jerrycan from the table, I sheathed my knife and notched another arrow into place. Daryl shook the jerrycan a little bit to determine how much fuel was left in it. As soon as I saw his face, I knew what we'd have to do. "It's maybe 'bout half full. We're gonna have ta get the other one by the fire-pit."

"Kay. Lead the way Dixon." He nodded his head toward the pathway we came from. Luckily we didn't run into anymore of 'em on the way, but as soon as we got close to the fire-pit, we had to duck behind a pile of chopped wood. There was at least ten of 'em wandering around aimlessly, most of 'em were close to the walkway we gotta take to head back to the cabin. Daryl was on the left side of the wood pile scoping out the area, while I was on the right. I could see the other jerrycan sitting close to the fire-pit about, fifteen feet in front of me. Even if I tried to make a run for it, however, those things would surely spot me. Covering myself completely behind the pile and resting my back against it to help calm down my ever growing irritation, I saw something that gave me an idea. There was close to, five empty glass beer bottles sitting right in between us. I couldn't help but smirk as I sheathed my arrow and wrapped my bow over my shoulder. I picked up one bottle in each hand while getting Daryl's attention. "Psst. Hey, numb-nuts."

He looked back at me a little aggravated, but more confused once he saw what was in my hands. "Aw, c'mon KJ. Now's really not the time for yer drinkin' problems ta be risin' up."

I just shook my head and chuckled a little. "No, you dummy. It's a distraction. I'm gonna throw 'em away from the pit and our yellow brick road outta here. Get ready ta run."

At that he nodded, finally understanding what I was doing. He moved to my right and put his knife away, so he would be ready to grab the other can. I tried to aim high, so I could get it right where I needed it. Once I threw the bottles and we heard the shattering, we watched and waited for 'em to take the bait. And they did. As soon as the last one made its way over to the group to see what all the fuss was about, we took off. Daryl ran for the other jerrycan and quickly swiped it from the ground, while I re-quipped my bow and arrow. But as soon as we started running toward our pathway, the sound of a horn started going off. The both of us couldn't help but freeze up as the horn just kept going. We were literally shocked stiff. 'Why the hell would he start honking the horn?!' It didn't take long for our attention to be back on the current threat. The entire group of geeks were now turned around and making their way toward us and the noise. Daryl immediately jumped back into gear. "We gotta go! C'mon! Now!"

We ran as fast as we could to the truck, trying to stay out of their reach and dodging the few that were popping up in front of us. As we ran, I put my arrow into the quiver and at that point, we heard Jess' yelling over the horn. "Come on! Get in the truck! Hurry it up!" Once he was close enough, Daryl threw the cans into the bed while I hopped in the middle seat. He jumped in that truck so quickly, he was laying damn near on top of me. Jess took off before Daryl could even get the door shut and all you could see behind us was a shit ton of dust. As he flew down the dirt road and Daryl and I both re-positioned ourselves more comfortably in our seats, all I could think about was, 'Damn...this is only the beginning.'

For a while, the three of us was silent as we rode the back roads, until Jess decided to end that silence by turning on the radio. Nothing but annoying static came through and I could tell he was getting more and more frustrated with each station he tried. Harshly turning the radio back off, he finally spoke. "Not a damn thing. And my phone ain't workin' either." It was quiet once again, only this time, you could feel the awkwardness before Jess opened his mouth back up. "Hey...about your dad?...I don't know what to say."

I guess Daryl, however, didn't wanna talk about the sensitive subject just yet. His words came out quick at first and was like venom to the ears. "Then don't! Leave it be." He wiped the sweat from his brow and continued once he had calmed down some. "We gotta tell Merle what happened."

I knew that was on his mind. It should've been obvious that he would want to go after Merle. Assuming the asshole survived being locked up in that Police Station. Seems like Jess had other plans, however. "Yeah. I suppose we do. But, we ought to warn people first."

I started to say, "Are you serious-" but Daryl interjected.

"What? Go to the cops? Please. We gotta go get Merle."

Jess kept his focus on the road, but it seemed like he was deep in thought. "Merle...he's...well, he's just not right."

Uh-oh. Daryl's anger was quick to come back. "What'd you say to me old man!? Merle's ten times the man you are!"

My hand gripped onto his forearm to catch his attention. "Daryl! Jus' calm down, alright?"

I could feel his muscles relax a little bit as Jess tried to defend himself. "Alright, alright...Just seems you boys turn hay into shit when you're together."

After driving for a little while, we came up on the town of Sedalia. They had road barricades lining the street from one building to another, a pile of cars were also stretched across it like a make-shift fence. Jess turned the truck off and we all hopped out with our backpacks and weapons ready. The three of us surveyed the place for a moment, before Daryl spoke up. "No driving through that, we're on foot from here."

I nodded my head in agreement, but I noticed Jess nervously rub his wounded arm with his head hung low. "Ah, boy. Bet them psychos came through here, too."

Daryl glanced around once again before addressing his uncle. "Yeah, maybe. Town circled their wagons, ya see? Looks like a DMZ."

Jess and I looked to where he was pointing, then the wounded man nodded and added, "If there's any gas, it'll be at Lucky's."

Daryl and I both knew then, that it was time to move out. I readied my bow and notched an arrow as Daryl pulled his knife from its holster. I took one last look at Jess' arm and nodded to it. "If ya feel up to it, try to locate some food while we do the rest." I quickly scurried to the bed of the truck and opened the black duffle bag, pulling out a hammer. Making my way back to the front of the truck, I handed Jess the hammer and said, "Here. Just be careful and don't over do it. Try not to even make contact with 'em, if ya can. We don't want that arm gettin' any worse." He nodded his understatement. I got back into my stance that said, 'I'm ready to shoot any dick head that tries me' and made my way back over to Daryl. "Ya ready sexy?" I couldn't help but laugh at the dirty look he sent me.

What stopped that laughter, however, was when he leaned in and whispered, "Don't make me have ta pounce on ya while we're out there Kelsi. I got a lot of damn anger pent up and I don't wanna hurt ya." And with that, he walked away.

Great. How am I supposed to fight off dead folk now when my vagina's all tingly? Stupid Daryl and his stupid sexyness.


	6. SEDALIA

TWD Ch. 6

Jumping over the barricades and the car line-up, we immediately scan the area. There's another line-up of vehicles blocking our view from the rest of the street, but so far, the coast is clear. Standing still for a short moment, just to make sure a group of them don't come piling out of the buildings. That's when a certain sign caught my attention. "Daryl. That Pharmacy door is open, maybe we should start there."

At this point he unsheathed his knife while addressing me. "Good idea. There might be a way up to the roof tops in the back. Maybe we could try for a bird's-eye view." I nodded in agreement and let him lead. However, once we got to the door, it was pitch black inside. "Huh. Power's out."

An 'ah-ha' moment came over me when he said that. "I got a flash light in my backpack." He motioned for me to turn around. I did so and as he was fishing said item from my bag, I mentally slapped myself. 'I can't believe I forgot about havin' a flash light earlier.' Oh well. I'm just glad I remembered it when we needed it the most. Once he was finished, he zipped my bag back up and held the flashlight in his free hand.

Now that we're not walking in blind, it was clear to see that this place has already been gone through. All of the shelves were either crooked or toppled over, not to mention they were all mostly empty as well. Trash was thrown everywhere as well as empty boxes that once held more store products. We tried to keep as quiet as possible as we slowly made our way through the store. One of the shelves did hold two blue bottles and on further inspection, we saw that it was Gatorade that was still sealed. I once again turned my back towards Daryl so that he could secure the items into my bag.

Not much else was found useful, so we made our way through the back door on our left. There was a privacy fence surrounding the back of the now abandoned business. Once we were both out of the doorway, Daryl turned the flashlight off and pocketed it for now. Attached to the building were some shutters and an open door, at the end set a large green dumpster. But what really caught our attention, was the geek that was crouched down feasting on someone's corpse. Luckily this time, I might have a clear shot from where we stand. Ever so often the geek would lift his head completely up while chewing on his meal. I pulled my string back and waited for the opportunity to nail him in the back of the head. It didn't take long for me to get the shot and put the thing down for good.

I was in the process of wiping my arrow tip clean, when a male voice called out to us from the roof. "Hey! Come on up here and talk a minute. Use the ladder."

Sliding my arrow into its quiver and wrapping my bow over my shoulder, I gave Daryl a concerned look that silently asked, 'Should we?' He then answered by nodding his head toward the ladder. On the short walk over to it, he quietly said, "Stay behind me KJ. We don't know what his intentions are." Nodding my head yes, I followed him up the metal ladder. Once both our feet were firmly planted on the roof top, Daryl quickly looked around and said, "Nice setup."

Peeking over his shoulder, I finally got a look at the guy he spoke to. He was obviously a cop, his uniform and the bullet-proof vest with the word 'Police' stretched across it was the dead give away. He had a few blankets connecting from the sign at the front of the building, down to the ground and held there by a broken piece of concrete for a make-shift tent. Lawn chairs and police duffle bags laid about. You could tell he's been camping up here for a while now. My attention was ripped from his campsite once the man spoke again. "Jimmy Blake. Last standing officer of the Sedalia S.O."

He held his hand out for Daryl to shake, but of course he declined it. I went to walk around him to shake the man's hand myself, but Daryl quickly stopped that by pushing me back behind him before finally addressing the officer. "Good for you. Psychos are all over THIS place too."

Jimmy smiled sarcastically. "The Biters? Yeah, they're EVERYWHERE, man. Where have you been?"

"Up in the hills. Huntin'. Didn't know nothin' 'bout 'em until they tore up our camp. Still don't." I couldn't help but wonder if what he said could be a lie or not. Since we did train for this, but at the same time, it's very much possible that these monsters could be different.

My thoughts were interrupted, however, when Jimmy spoke up again. "Uh-huh. Let me bring you up to speed." He paced a little as he talked to us. "More of THEM come every day. We help each other survive, or we DON'T. That's it. Normal rules suspended for the foreseeable future. That applies to good guys..." he paused for a moment as he looked Daryl over, seemingly 'sizing' him up, "and to, uh, 'hunters'. Ten-four?"

Daryl scoffed, obviously not intimidated by the man at all. "Yeah, I get it. But who's 'we'?"

At that, Jimmy let out a sigh. "The kid holed up in the gas station and the deputy in the cell block-HE'S interesting. I wanna do one last radio check before bugging out, though."

Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, then do it."

Jimmy smiled at him. "Batteries went dead two days back. Can't find fresh ones. If YOU can, I'm happy to supply a lil' bird's-eye coverage. I'm a hell of a shot."

Daryl seemed to think about it for a moment before answering the officer. "Batteries. Okay. We'll keep an eye out. We need gas, though."

Jimmy shook his head. "I think it's long gone." He pointed down to the street and added, "But the kid would know better than me."

Daryl nodded his head at that, then turned around and gently grabbed my arm to lead us back to the ladder. We both quickly glanced down to make sure there wasn't any danger waiting for us at the bottom, before descending. Daryl's feet touched down first and once I got close enough, he grabbed hold of my sides and pulled me from the ladder to place me on the ground himself. I couldn't help but smile at the gesture. But all smiles were quickly wiped away as we got back to business. We simultaneously pulled out our weapons and made our way to the open door next to the shutters.

Seeing that this building was dark too, Daryl pulled the flashlight from his back pocket and gave us some vision. Walking across the small loading dock, we opened the door that lead us behind the store's register counter. We didn't notice it at first, but as soon as we heard the low growls, Daryl's light immediately landed on a geek that was on the other side of the counter. I quickly pulled back my arrow and hit him through the eye socket. It dropped and as I was retrieving my arrow, another geek came out from behind one of the shelves. Daryl quickly took care of it by shoving his blade into the top of its balding head.

Once we knew there were no more rotting corpses that could sneak up on us, we quickly searched the area. When we met back up, I was only able to present one roll of toilet paper, while Daryl had found something much more interesting. It was an old suit case of various snacks that someone had left behind. There wasn't enough room in our backpacks for the suit case to be placed IN them. However, the front of Daryl's bag had a strap that we was able to snap around the handle of the suit case. Whatever works, right?

Seeing that we were finished here, I made my way through the open door. It was a mistake. As soon as I stepped foot on the sidewalk, a geek instantly snatched up my arm. It must have been a fresh one, because it grabbed my arm with enough force to cause me to drop my bow and arrow. It scared the hell out of me, so an uncontrollable, "Ah!" escaped my mouth. I knew that there were probably more on the streets, so I tried my best to keep from screaming any louder. Seeing its head dip to try and take a bite out of me, my right arm automatically moved. My hand smacked it in the forehead as I pushed to keep its snapping teeth away from me. Panic steadily rose within me while my brain tried to process how the hell it could be so strong.

After what felt like an hour of struggle, its grip finally let go, causing me to fly back and land on the concrete. Pain immediately rushed up from my elbow to my shoulder, letting me know that it would definitely bruise. It didn't take me long to realize that my harsh landing didn't only cause future bruising, but had cut me open as well. Seeing movement in my peripheral, my eyes locked back onto my attacker struggling to stand up. Daryl stopped its movements, however, by burying his blade into its balding skull. This is when I noticed what had made it go down in the first place. A small box of nuts and bolts. Daryl must have threw that at its head to get it to drop.

Once he pulled his knife back out, he used his right foot to promptly kick my bow and arrow back inside the store. While he then placed his knife back into its holster, I began to get back on my feet. I was unsuccessful due to Daryl deciding to lift me up bridal style and carry me back in. Once inside, he squatted and gently set me down on the floor, only to grab hold of my arm and look it over. At this point, I finally noticed how frantic his body language is. "Did it get ya?" Still in shock from what just happened, I wasn't able to answer him right away. "Did it bite ya Kelsi? Answer me goddammit."

Coming out of whatever trance I was in, I was able to stutter out, "N-no. It didn't bite me."

His eyes continued to search, however, before landing on the blood that was steadily trickling down my other arm. "Ya bleedin'? Did it scratch ya?"

Swiftly moving my elbow into his line of view so that he could better investigate it, I tried to insure him, "Naw. Just got scrapped up when I fell."

He calmed down a bit at that as he slid his backpack off his shoulders. Rummaging through it for a moment, he pulled out what he was looking for. A bottle of water, a rag and a roll of bandages. Unscrewing the water bottle and using it to soak the rag, he siad, "We gotta cover it up, in case those things can smell it like we talked about." He handed the now wet rag to me so I could clean the wound myself. While unraveling some of the bandage, he then asked, "You sure ya ain't bit?"

I don't know what it was that aggravated me so bad, but I snapped. "No, I'm not fuckin' bit. If you're waiting on a reason to put me down, then just do it already and stop askin' me."

He glared at me then and for a moment, that's all it was. A damn glaring contest. But his next action, made my heart race. His left hand reached around and grabbed harshly onto the back of my neck, while his right hand gripped onto my chin to keep me still. The look he was giving me scared me stiff and all I could think about is, 'Is he really gonna kill me?' When he spoke, it was low and carried bass with it. "I was fuckin' worried about ya Kelsi. I saw that thing snatch ya up so quick, I thought for sure I had lost ya."

A gasp escaped me then as his lips came crashing into mine, instantly allowing his tongue access into my mouth. He let go of his grip on my chin and placed his hand on my cheek instead. My hold on the rag loosened until it finally hit the ground, all I could do then to keep from getting dizzy his grab onto his leather vest. His lips moved hard and fast, letting me know how scared he really was of losing me. My body shivered as I fought hard to suck the tears back into my eyes, realizing that I lost when I felt it slide down my cheek and onto his hand. I felt so horrible for scaring him like that. All because I was too stupid to literally look before I leaped. The man lost his father, he knew his uncle would most likely turn and his brother was trapped in a cell. I guess the thought of losing me too, was just too much for him.

Stopping to catch our breath, he moved his hand from my neck to rest on my other cheek. He looked sternly into my eyes as he spoke. "You go where I go Kelsi. Ya don't leave me, alright?"

I nodded my head and answered as he used his thumbs to wipe my face clean of the fallen tears. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm okay though."

He gave my lips a quick peck before letting me go to pick up the forgotten bandage roll. "Give me yer arm, let's get ya fixed up now." I did as I was told while willing my emotions back down where they belong. Once finished with my wound, we pack up all our things and get ready to move. "Hold up. Gotta take a piss"

My face scrunched up as I watched him walk to the corner of the room. At the sound of his zipper opening, I happily turn to face away from him. "Really?"

The sound of his pee hitting the floor and echoing through the empty store was just too much, causing me to let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "What's a matter KJ? Ya wanna come hold it for me or somethin'?"

Fighting the urge not to cross my arms over my chest so that I can keep hold of my bow and arrow, was more difficult for me then it should have been. "What happened to the Daryl that just freaked out over a scrapped elbow?"

He finished and was zipping his fly back up when he answered, "Oh, you don't want THAT Daryl ta come back right now."

Once I heard his footsteps coming back toward me, I turned and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Well...why not?"

He let out a sigh and repositioned the backpack strap on his shoulders, then took out his knife while honestly answering with, "'Cause, THAT Daryl was 'bout ta got all the way with that kiss." My heart skipped at that, then he turned his head slightly to look me in the eyes. "Yeah, I got scared, alright? That's 'cause I need you Kelsi. That's why I keep tellin' ya to go where I go. Right now though, we gotta get the hell outta this place and get movin' again. Ya up for it?"

I couldn't help but smirk at that. The knowledge that Daryl Dixon 'needs' me, has given me back my confidence to face these rotting assholes. "I'm always up for some head-shots Dixon. So let's move."

Making our way out of the store and onto the sidewalk, THIS time being sure to look around first, we spot at least twenty or so of 'em wondering the street. Trying to sneak and use cover from one vehicle to the next, we quietly make our way across the street to the gas station. There were two geeks in between the pumps and the building. One was close enough for Daryl to put down with his knife, while the other was far enough to drop with my arrow. While cleaning my arrow tip, I once again hear a man calling out to us, this voice different from the last though and also slightly muffled. "Hey! Over here! In the window!"

Daryl marched up to the window, while I stood behind him to keep watch. I got a glimpse of the kid before I turned around though. He looked maybe early twenties. The large window was barricaded with wooden planks, making him slouch in order for us to see his face through an opening. Daryl knew there were too many geeks roaming around to be out in the open like this, so he sternly addressed the guy. "Somethin' you want? Huh? We ain't standin' out here playin' bait all day."

He quickly retaliated with, "You got a car? Need gas, right? I can get you gas. I'm Warren."

There was a short pause before Daryl answered. "Daryl. This is KJ-"

"Kelsi. My name is Kelsi." I called over his shoulder to correct him.

Daryl scoffed at me and then continued. "Anyway, it's a truck...What happened here?"

"The eaters happened. Me and my dad holed up here with Uncle Lester. The town held 'em off okay...until we lost all the cops. All but Blake."

There was another pause as Daryl thought for a moment. "Uncle Lester...Lucky Les?"

"Yeah, the same. He and dad went out to see who was left." Warren stopped for a moment, when he continued, I could hear how downtrodden he was. "I don't think they're coming back. But Uncle Lester has the key to the generator cage..."

"...and that's how we get the gas pumps runnin' again." Daryl finished.

"Riiight. You get the keys and crank up the ginny. I use my codes to turn on the pumps and we get out of here. Win-win."

He had a good bargaining chip, I'll give him that. But here comes the Dixon attitude. "Tch. You're comin' with us now?"

"I'm not stayin' HERE, buddy. We got a deal?" Before there was any confirmation, a geek came out from the side of the station, stammering its way towards us. Warren started to let out a "Watch it!" but I already nailed the geek with my arrow before he could finish. As soon as it dropped, Warren gave a low whistle saying, "Whoa, she's a good shot."

I turned and smiled to give him a silent 'thank you', but seeing Daryl react to Warren's wandering eyes, made me think he might break the deal. "I don't know. I'm gonna have ta think about-"

Before Daryl even had a chance to mess this up for us, all over a little jealousy, I quickly interjected with, "Yes, we have a deal. Now let's go before more 'em start comin'."

I heard his scoff as I retrieved my arrow, but chose to ignore it so we can move on already. Our list is starting to grow. We have to find batteries, then look for Lucky Les, just to get the keys we need to get outta Sedalia. Our goal is to get to Fontana and find Merle as fast as possible, so we need to start hustling.

The Police Station is right across from the Gas Station, so we figured 'why not go there first?' Quickly crossing the street, Daryl having to take one geek down with his knife on the way, we head to the side to go to the back of the building. Almost at the back, I noticed a geek sitting against the front of an abandoned police car, but it wasn't moving or making any noise. So, I walk past it. Stopping quickly, however, when Daryl whisper yells, "Behind you!" I swiftly turn to see the geek I thought was already done, start clamoring to its feet. Daryl was closest to it and went to go for it, but my arrow stuck in the top of its head before he could get there. He smirked as he bent down to pull out the arrow. "Ya know, I honestly think yer gettin' better with every shot you take, KJ."

A giggle escaped me as I teased him. "Oh, is that really a compliment I hear comin' out of a Dixon's mouth? The world really IS at an end, isn't it."

He shook his head in good humor as he made his way to me and handed me back my arrow. "Ya better watch it, girl. Or I might have ta spank that ass of yers."

After he handed the arrow to me, he started to walk ahead to our destination, but I just had to mess with him one more time. I quietly fast walked behind him and whacked him on the butt with the feather side of my arrow. He hissed while his hand automatically came to nurture his now sore back side. "Who's ganna spank who's ass again?"

"Son of a bitch." He finally had a chance to curse at the pain I caused him. Once he felt the pain begin to subside, he glared and pointed a finger at me. "You're pushin' it girl."

I notched my arrow into its rightfully readied place, before waltzing up to him and planting a firm peck on his lips. "Oh, hush. Ya big baby. Now c'mon, let's go. We got shit to do."

Making our way to the back, we walk up the small ramp and into the door. I made sure to shut the door behind us, while Daryl quickly scoped out the area. Right in front of us was a makeshift barricade of everything from, tables, to vending machines blocking off the hallway. To our left was a room with a bunch of disheveled desks tossed all around. There were also cells that housed hungry geeks. Going into the room with the cells, there was a geek feeding on one side, and another feeding on the other side of the room. Daryl motioned that he would take the one closest to the cells, while I moved to shoot the other one by a toppled over desk.

Once that was taken care of, Daryl pulled out the flashlight and used it to quickly look around. Something had flashed in the corner of my eye, and upon further investigation, a smile quickly formed on my face. "Daryl. I got a colt and a case of bullets."

He came to me and smirked at my find. "Nice, put 'em in my bag." He turned his back to me so I could unzip his bag and deposit the weapon and its ammo, then zipping it back up once I was finished. We then ventured through a door that was creaked, which lead us to a hallway. We instantly spotted the two geeks in here. One was getting up from sitting against the wall by the door, the other was down the hall walking towards us. Daryl went after the one by the door, while I shot the one down the hall. Once we got to the end of the hall to retrieve my arrow, Daryl went on ahead and opened a door to our left. Seconds later I heard the familiar crunch of his knife diving into the skull of an undead. Before I could even walk into the room with him, he came out wiggling something in his hand. "Found batteries for Blake."

Re-notching my arrow, I smiled and said, "Awesome. Let's check the stairs now." He nodded in agreement and moved forward to lead us to the door for the staircases. Shutting the door behind us and quickly checking behind the staircases to make sure there weren't any geeks hiding, we made our way up the first flight of stairs. It didn't take long, however, for us to hear banging and the sound of wood breaking. Daryl stuck his hand out for me to stop, so I did but asked, "What do ya think it is?"

He stood there for a moment as the noise continued. "Sounds like their bustin' through a door. Be ready, but if there's a lot of 'em, you run. You run and you don't look back, ya hear me?"

That worried me. "But...I thought you said to go where you go. I'm not gonna leave you Daryl-"

"I said to run." He gave me a stern look that made me feel almost like I was being scolded by my parents or something. "C'mon."

We continued on, but as soon as we got close to the top, the door gave way and two of 'em stepped out, immediately catching us in their sights. I pulled the string back and aimed for the one furthest away, while Daryl readied himself for the one closest to us. Seconds after his knife landed in the head of one, my arrow punctured through the skull of the other. We started walking towards the broken door, when the sound of low grunts came echoing from the third flight of stairs. I swiftly pulled another arrow from its quiver and notched it on the string. As soon as I saw the lone geek making its way down the steps, I pulled back and aimed. Once it was put down, Daryl went to get the arrow from that one while I retrieved and cleaned the arrow stuck in the corpse by the door.

Finally making our way through the broken door, we took care of the two geeks, then quickly rummaged through the multiple cubicles. After meeting back up, Daryl produced his find, which was another case of bullets. All my find consisted of, however, was a few protein bars. After placing our items in our bags, we readied our weapons and moved towards the next door.

Shutting the door behind me, I realized it lead us into another hallway. Going through the door across from us, put us into another waiting room. There was only one geek roaming around in here, so Daryl quickly got rid of it. Deciding to open the door at the far end, we were surprised to find a large cell with an actual living person locked inside.

Before we were even able to fully shut the door behind us, the man in the cell began hollering, "Hey! What're you doin' here?!"

Daryl slowly made his way in front of the cell bars with curiosity written on his face. Slipping my arrow into its quiver, I claimed my spot at Daryl's side while he asked, "Who locked you up?"

The man looked at him like it should've been obvious. "I locked me up! I'm guardin' the cache until Sheriff Turner comes up from Pemberton to relieve me!"

Daryl looked around with his eyebrows furrowed. "Guardin' it? From who?"

The mans voice came out so loud at first, it made the both of us jump a little. "From the damn GHOULS! Who else?! You slow?!"

Daryl ignored his insult and asked, "You sure he's comin'? You can ride out with us. We'd trade passage for some of what's in those crates-"

The man once again blew his top, screaming, "GET YOUR DAMN EYES OFF THE CACHE!" He took in a calming breath, then continued. "I mean. Listen, son. I'm stayin'. But I AM HUNGRY. If you were to slide me a bite to eat, a few items might walk out of this cage. Follow?"

Daryl scoffed at the man. "Yeah. It ain't rocket science."

The man smiled in a way the creeped me out a bit. "Good. Real good." Daryl motioned for me to unclip the suit case of food we found earlier from his backpack. I gave him an 'Are you sure?' look, but he just nodded his head yes. I let out a sigh while wrapping my bow over my shoulder, before moving to undo the strap holding the suit case. Daryl then took it from me and handed it over to the deputy through the bars. The man smiled real big and said, "Well, look here, just what the doctor ordered. Here you go, son." He moved over to the crates and passed us a few cases of bullets and another pistol. We loaded the items in our bags while he spoke again. "What do you say we keep this transaction just between us?"

Daryl nodded once and asked, "You sure you ain't comin' with?"

The deputy just waved Daryl off and shook his head. "Oh, hell no. This is my POST! Where am I gonna be safer?!"

There was a pause for a moment, before Daryl looked at him funny. "You don't have the key...do you?"

The man just sat down on the bench and said, "Go on, now. Git. Leave me to my duty."

Daryl just shrugged his shoulders at the man and turned to head for the door. I couldn't help but look at the deputy sympathetically though. Asking quietly, "What happens when you get hungry again?" His eyes grew wide at that question. Guess he didn't think that one through.

Finding our way out to the fire escape at the back of the building, Daryl released the ladder. I can't explain to you how loud that stupid ladder was going down, but it definitely made me jump and Daryl cringe. Before Daryl could even get halfway down, the noise of the privacy fence that separates a trailer park being tore up made both our hearts race. "Shit! C'mon!" With that he moved his feet and hands on the sides to slide down. I knew that I wouldn't be able to mimic that action, so I opted to just climb down as fast as I could. About half way through though, Daryl held his arms out and motioned for me to jump. I normally would've screamed and asked him if he was crazy, but looking towards the fence and seeing how many geek were starting to get through, I knew that I didn't have much of a choice. So, I squeezed my eyes shut and hopped off. Daryl let out a low grunt when he caught me, then we quickly readied our weapons and ran off back in the direction of the street, avoiding as many roaming corpses as possible.

Sneaking through the street, we entered the building that I was attacked at earlier. Daryl only had to take out one geek as we made our way out the back door and up the ladder to face Officer Jimmy Blake again. This time, however, I stood to the side of Daryl as he pulled out the pack of batteries from his pocket. "This what you needed?"

Jimmy nodded his head as he took the batteries from Daryl's hand. "Just right. I'll run the scan. In the meantime, I've got you covered. I'll be ready to leave town when you are."

Daryl nodded once and said, "Meet us back at the North side of the barricades, then."

Jimmy smiled. "Yep. Look forward to gettin' off this roof."

"That works. Make sure you're there when we go, or you're gonna get left."

The officer just smirked. "You got it." He then nodded towards me and added, "If ya want, she can stay here until you're ready. Looks like she got hurt since you two was up here last." His eyes grew wide then. "She isn't bit, is she?"

Daryl glared at the officer. "No, she ain't bit. And hell no, she ain't stayin' up here either. She's safe with me. You just focus on bein' ready when we go." Daryl then shook his head, turned, grabbed hold of my good arm and made his way back to the ladder. All while mumbling, "Stupid ass officer nosey. Needs ta keep his eye balls in his head and his damn nose outta our assess." I was able to stifle my laugh, but couldn't control my ever growing smile.

Before making our way back onto the street, Daryl suggested that we should search for Lucky Les in that trailer park behind the Police Station. Agreeing, I let him lead the way. We only had to exterminate a few geeks on the way to the dirt road on the side of the Police Station that leads into the trailer park. Ducking behind a turned over truck as our cover, we discovered four geeks that were grouped together. Daryl found a large piece of plexiglass from the broken windshield and chucked it over to use as a distraction. Once all of the geeks focused on that, I shot all four of 'em from a distance, one by one. Luckily Daryl had my back, however, because he ended up taking care of two that had snuck up behind us. He then scanned the entrance to the mobile home park, while I collected my arrows.

Walking through the trailer park, Daryl made sure to glance at the faces of each body we past, to see if any of them turned out to be Lucky Les. It wasn't until we got to the middle, that Daryl recognized the face of a geek sitting against a refrigerator that's been tipped on its side. "Hope ya still got that ginny key on ya, Les." He mumbled before squatting to search through his pockets. I kept watch, but jumped at the sound of moaning coming from behind me. Turning to see that Lucky Les had indeed reanimated, but Daryl quickly put him to rest with his knife.

Scanning the area for any signs of the undead while Daryl continued to search the deceased man's pockets, I was once again frightened by the sudden noise of...a phone ringing? Daryl uttered some curse words and said something about Les' phone alarm going off, before he was able to dismiss it. However, it was too late. The noise had unfortunately woken up the dead, as more of them started to show up from behind various trailers. Way more then I could handle. "Daryl, we gotta go."

He clicked his teeth and angrily said, "Hold up, I gotta find those keys first, KJ."

Too bad these monsters couldn't 'hold up' long enough. They started to get too close for my comfort, which inevitably brought on my inner panic and fear. "Daryl. Forget the keys. We gotta go, NOW!"

"We can't forget the fuckin' keys, Kelsi! That's our only way outta this dump!"

At this point, I started backing up until I eventually bumped into him. "No, no, no! Now! We gotta leave NOW!"

Then I heard the jingling of a key ring and Daryl saying, "That's it. Big thanks." Before I could even prepare myself, he grabbed my bicep and took off, damn near dragging me behind him. We had to weave around the trailers a few times before finally losing the small horde. When we felt like we were okay for now, we agreed to be stealthy while crossing the street back to Lucky Les' gas station.

Greeting Warren at the window, his face lit up when he saw the keys Daryl was dangling. "Hey! You got it?!"

Daryl smirked at the kid. "Yep."

"Alright! Good deal! Open the ginny cage." He hesitated then, his excitement seemingly melting away. "A-are my dad and Uncle Lester behind you guys?"

Daryl sympathetically told him, "Just get the pumps on, okay Warren?"

With a downtrodden tone, he answered, "Oh, okay." It was a sad, awkward silence as we waited for him to punch in his code. "It's all ready. Open the cage and hit the primer."

Daryl nodded and then turned to me. "You stay here. Put yer back against that window and stay on your toes. Don't let 'em get too close."

I subconsciously swallowed the lump in my throat. "You got it. Try ta hurry." With that, he turned and rounded the corner towards the generator.

It didn't take long for Daryl to kick the motor on, and when it did, it was LOUD. Warren, still behind the window hollered, "Hey! You got it running!" Daryl then came back with two large jerrycans and fast walked to the pumps. "Heads up! That racket's drawin' 'em in!"

Indeed it was. More and more of them started pouring in from all over the place. I hurriedly slide the arrow into its quiver, wrapped my bow over my shoulder and ripped my gun from its holster. Daryl was trying his best to fill the jerrycans as fast as he could, while we delivered cover fire. After putting my fifth geek down, is when Warren finally made it to my side. His gun already drawn and firing into the skulls of the reanimated. In the distance we could hear the rifle shots of Jimmy, it didn't take long for him to make his way towards us either.

Daryl finally let us know he was finished by yelling, "Gotta go!" With that, the three of us took off behind him. All of us shot geek after geek while running to the car line up in the middle of the street. We all follow Daryl's lead to climb the ladder to the top of a semi. Once up there, all of us couldn't help but gasp at the large pile up of rotting cannibals. They clawed at the truck in an attempt to reach us. Snapping out of our short stupor, we started raining bullets down on them. After a few minutes, however, Daryl informed us of our ammo situation. "We ain't got enough ammo for this! Gotta make a run for it, NOW!"

Agreeing with him, we follow his lead and jump over to the front of the semi, then jumping down from the hood. The geeks caught wind of our movements and turned to head for us, but we were quick. Our adrenaline pumped our legs to move faster than ever before. Almost in reach of the car pile up in front of the barricades, we heard Jess' yelling. "C'mon! Get back over here!"

While making our way through the cars, Daryl angrily retaliated with, "What'cha think we're doin', Jess?!" As he hopped over the barricades he added, "Man, start the damn truck!"

Once I had made it to the barricades, I called over my shoulder to Jimmy and Warren. "You two hop in the bed, fast!"

It was definitely a stab to the heart, however, when only Jimmy's answer was heard. "Warren went down after we got off the semi! There were too many for me to save him!"

I had to suck in the sick feeling in my stomach when I finally reached the truck. Daryl had the already thrown the jerrycans in the bed and stood with the passenger door open. Jimmy hopped in the bed and shut the tailgate behind him, while Daryl helped push me in the truck. Once again Jess had took off before Daryl could actually get the door closed. We all caught our breath as we went back on the back roads and tried to find an alternate route around the town. Escaping Sedalia was definitely not an easy feet. But we survived, and were now on our way to our next location.


	7. GARWATER CAMPGROUNDS

TWD Ch. 7

It was definitely a sick feeling, knowing that we lost Warren. Jimmy explained to us that he tried to go back for him, but the poor kid had already been swarmed. Unfortunately we didn't have time to grieve, especially not for someone we had just met. Not to mention that Jess...is starting to look a little under the weather.

It was a silent drive for a while, Daryl seemed to be fighting sleep in the seat between Jess and I. I knew that nobody was really in a good mood, so I tried to ignore the cramping in my stomach. But after about thirty minutes of driving, it was just too much. "Uh...Jess?"

He was sweating like crazy and looked like he was trying to stay awake as well. Luckily he wasn't really swerving yet. It was definitely frightening, however, to see how much energy he actually had to bring forth in order to talk. "W-what, uh, what do ya need girl?"

With an answer like that, Daryl couldn't help but give a sideways glance at his dear uncle. His head still resting against the back of his seat to make it seem like he wasn't that concerned, but his eyes watched Jess' every move. Then the cramping came back to remind me of why I had bothered Jess in the first place. "I was...uh, I was wondering if you managed to scrounge up some food back in Sedalia?"

He looked at me for a second before facing back towards the road, and it was hard for me not to gasp out loud. The man's skin had literally darkened and his eyes gave away how weak he really was. He looked so sickly, I actually inwardly asked myself how the hell is he even still breathing? While keeping his gaze on the road, he shakingly pointed to a small duffle bag sitting on the dashboard. "It's in that bag. Pass 'em around for me."

Quickly swiping the bag from the dashboard, I unzipped it and instantly smiled. "Oh, nice!" Grabbing an individually wrapped item out of the bag, I moved to turn around in my seat. Resting my knees into the leather and setting my right elbow on Daryl's shoulder as leverage, I opened the back window and slightly poked my head out. I had to yell a bit in order to speak over the roaring wind. "Hey! Officer Jimmy Blake!" He jumped a little at the sound of my voice. He was leaning back to the right of the window, chin resting on his hand while he watched the scenery fly by. But he quickly turned to face me with a questioning look. Smiling at the man, I wiggled Jess' find out the window. "Ya want a fiber bar?!"

He smirked at that, then repositioned himself so that he could actually face me. "You mean those things that you THINK is gonna be a delicious granola bar, but end up tasting like shit instead?!"

I couldn't help but giggle as I answered him. "Yup! That's the one!"

He let out a chuckle. "Then, hell yeah!" With that, I tossed him the fiber bar and he managed to catch it. He looked at it for a moment with what seemed to be gratitude, before glancing back up at me. "I must say Miss Kelsi, I had my doubts at first!"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do ya mean?!"

He opened the fiber bar and munched on a large bite before answering me. "It looks like you really are my guardian angel!"

Before I could even think about responding, Daryl wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back in, then slammed the window shut again. I was fixin' to yell at him, but was stopped when he leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Instead of flirtin' with Officer Douchebag, ya need to be payin' attention. We got a real problem on our hands."

Glaring at him, I decided to be a bit of a smart-ass for pulling me in like that. "Now why would I be flirtin' with him, when I got you as a boyfriend?" His face darkened at that, letting me know that he was serious. I let out a sigh and pushed my attitude away. "Alright, I'm sorry. Now what's the problem?"

He looked back at the driver's side quick enough to make sure that his uncle wasn't paying attention to us, before turning back to me. "Jess ain't lookin' too good. I'm gonna have to take over driving, but I need you to keep your guard up while ya sittin' next to him. I don't need him turnin' and then you gettin' bit, because you was too damn worried about ya new best friend in the back."

"Really, Daryl? You're gonna be the jealous type?" His harsh scowl was a straight answer to that, making me quickly get back to the current issue. "Alright, calm your tits sweetheart. Tell him you're gonna drive so he can get some rest or somethin'."

Guess that was a good enough suggestion, 'cause he swiftly nodded his head in agreement, then turned to address the ill man. "Hey, Jess. Why don't ya pull over and let me drive for right now? Get ya self some shut-eye?"

It took a moment for Jess to even acknowledge Daryl, he was so focused on the road. Once he did seem to process what his nephew had said, he quickly looked at him with a bit of confusion. "Ya got a problem with my drivin', or somethin'? You forget whose truck this is, boy?"

Daryl just shook his head and calmly answered, "It ain't like that, man. Let's just stop and stretch our legs for a moment. Get ourselves somethin' to eat."

He thought about it for a few minutes, but ultimately agreed. He gave a small, "Fine." then moved the truck to the side of the road. The three of us piled out of the cramped vehicle and immediately stretched our aching muscles. At this point we all knew the sun would settle within the next hour, so we wanted to make this pit stop rather quick. None of us wanted to really be out in the open during the night.

Once my tense muscles had finally relaxed, I decided to grab some more fiber bars from Jess' duffle bag and give some to each of us. At the end of our small meal, however, Jess seemed very antsy to get going. He tiredly asked us, "Everyone done yet?"

The two boys nodded their heads, but I needed to do one last thing before we got back on the road. "I'm gonna go piss before we move out. Been holdin' it for a while now."

Jess nodded his head in acknowledgement, then made his way back to the truck. Daryl, however, had other intentions. "I'll go with ya."

I was in the midst of pulling my roll of toilet paper out of my bag when he said this. So the surprise of it naturally made me drop said TP, which of course caused the damn thing to halfway unroll down the pavement. My aggravation hitting its peek as I started to re-wrap the toilet paper, is definitely to blame for the attitude in my tone. "I'm a grown woman, Dixon. I don't need you to come help me wipe my ass. Been usin' the bathroom on my own since I was three, so I'm pretty sure I got it down by now."

He glared, then stomped his way in front of me. "Yeah well, what ya DON'T have 'down', is lookin' out for the bitin' dead folk that's roamin' around. I'm goin' to make sure your stupid ass doesn't get ya self caught, AGAIN."

And with that, he swiftly walked past me in the direction of the tree line. He pissed me off so bad with that comment, that my hands were shaking. I had to fight to get the rest of the toilet paper back into its initial shape. Following the path he took, I made sure to walk close enough to him so he could hear me, before moving behind one of the many surrounding bushes. "You're a fuckin' dick, ya know that?"

He clicked his tongue and answered while checking the area for any danger. "I'm YOUR dick, KJ. So I guess ya best just get use to it. Huh?"

As I unbuckled my belt, I retaliated with, "Well my 'dick', best keep his mouth shut and turn the other way."

I looked over my shoulder and waited for him to turn around before squatting in the itchy, dry grass. Quickly doing my business and wiping away the mess, then tossing the soiled tissue into the bush. Once my clothes were all situated, I swiped the toilet paper roll from the ground and made my way back to the truck with full intentions of ignoring my hunting partner. Those intentions were quickly foiled, however, when he decided to smack me on the ass-HARD. A hiss quickly escaped me at the same time my hand moved to massage my poor bum. I turned to glare at him, but he just smirked and bent in to peck the corner of my mouth. Then his lips moved to my ear so he could whisper, "That's pay back for earlier. Now c'mon."

After driving through the backroads for an hour and a half, a very nerve-racking hour and a half, the truck started to sound like it was struggling a little bit. I say 'nerve-racking', because the whole time I had to keep a sharp eye on Jess. But my nerves definitely got worse when ever the engine started to smoke. At the sight and smell of the smoke, the four of us immediately perked up. Daryl's face showed anger, while the rest of us had the face of someone very nervous and very scared. None of us were too sure if the geeks would act any differently at night, than how they are in the day. But we did know one thing; stumbling around in the dark, half blind, was something we really wanted to avoid.

Daryl cursed under his breath. When the engine finally died down, he turned into the closest place he could. Which just so happened to be the Garwater Campgrounds. Coming to a complete stop, the four of us quickly jumped out of the truck. While Jimmy and I took on the job of checking the inventory and getting our weapons/gear ready, Jess and Daryl popped the hood to check the still smoking engine. It didn't take long, however, for the two men to quickly deduce what type of situation we were in. As I made my way to the front of the truck, Daryl spoke to our small group. "She ain't gonna make it. We gotta find a new ride."

Jess shook his head at the idea, and quickly went back into the habit of rubbing his wounded arm. "Hm...Don't much like the idea of being out at night. It's too hard to see."

It was obvious that none of us liked the idea. But Daryl just told his uncle like it is. "We ain't got a whole lot of choice."

Jess nervously scanned the area before speaking again. "Can't be TOO careful...'till we know more about 'em."

Daryl nodded his head once, agreeing with his fidgeting uncle. "That's true."

Leaving it at that for the moment, we gathered what we could and began our trek down the gravel road leading to the campground entrance. It didn't take long for us to notice the flashing lights bouncing off the tree tops. Jess let out an annoyed grunt. "Ugh. Another cop."

At that, Jimmy immediately came back with a sarcastic, "Thanks."

Ignoring him, however, I decided to get back on topic. "So we got lawmen at the campgrounds in the middle of the night. Think they're dead?" Daryl's steps halted then, deep in thought, which caused the rest of us to stop. I already knew that this would be the place for us to locate a new vehicle and scavenge for anything useful. So I went ahead and gave Jimmy Blake his new task. "Officer Blake, you go on ahead and try to find anything we could use. Food, a tent, maybe even fuel."

He quickly agreed and took to the tree line. That's when Daryl nodded towards the flashing lights and said, "KJ and I will handle this. Soon as we score new wheels, we're out."

Jess seemed like he really dreaded the sound of that. When he spoke, he sounded so weak. "Yeah, I'm on it." He began to stretch and rub his lower back as he continued, "I'll whistle if I turn anything up."

As we watched Jess rub his eyes and head, Daryl's concerns definitely started growing. "Hey. You okay?"

Even though we knew he wasn't doing too well, he just waved off his nephew's worries. "I'm fine. Little tired, maybe. Been a long day."

Jess was right, it HAS been a long day. But by the way he was lookin', soundin' and actin'...I fear that he might not have much longer. This will, unfortunately, probably be our proof. Our evidence of what happens when you get bit. Do you turn? Do you just die? Part of me wants to find the answers to those questions as quickly as possible. But the other part of me, feels horrible that Jess will have to be the sacrifice to providing those answers.

Going our separate ways, Daryl and I head towards the lit up police car parked in front of the campgrounds. Realizing quickly that it's not lawMEN, but lawMAN instead. There was only one officer standing outside of the vehicle. Not to mention he was bald as bald could be. I mean, shit. The flashing lights were damn near radiating off of his head. During the small walk through the mostly dark road way, we could hear some of the officer's conversation over his radio. "...yeah, REAL bad. Damn massacre is what it is. Looks like a lot of folks tried to hole up here, but well...Yeah, found a couple...not as far as I can tell...maybe one more coming..." Once the man had finally became aware of our ever approaching presence, he quickly whipped around and pointed the barrel of his gun straight to our heads.

This caused an immediate reaction out of me, my autopilot mode quickly told my body to lift my hands up in surrender. Daryl's automatic reaction, however, was to defend himself with an angry tone. "We're still alive dumbass! Put the gun down!"

The lawman seemed hesitant for a moment, but soon put his pistol into its holster attached to his belt. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding as my arms relaxed and went limp by my sides. The officer then turned the volume on his radio down to address us. "You picked a rough place to stop. Campground's a slaughterhouse."

Daryl quickly glanced around before his eyes landed back on the paranoid man. "Yeah, I hear ya. But our truck's done for."

The bald man leaned slightly to see the smoking truck parked behind us. "Yeah, I see that." He then faced us and introduced himself. "Albert Lee, Pemberton Sheriff's Department."

Daryl surprisingly gave Albert his full name as he introduced himself as well. "Daryl Dixon." Sticking his thump out to point at me, he then continued, "This is Kelsi James. You think you can give us a lift?"

Officer Lee shook his head before glancing back at the two men in his backseat. "Eh, gotta get them over to Memorial...if it's still open."

Daryl quickly looked around at the surrounding abandoned vehicles, before offering another suggestion. "So then, can you set us up with one of these?"

Albert just frowned as he gave Daryl yet another disappointing answer. "Sorry, man. No keys. Tell you what though: there WAS a ranger. Hartwell. He was driving back to his station. Looked like HE had plenty of room." Albert then quickly opened the driver's side door and pulled out a pump action shotgun, handing it over to Daryl before continuing. "Here, take this. Wish I could do more for you."

Leaving the Officer, we head in the direction of the campsites. When we got to the small ticket booth, however, I gripped onto to Daryl's bicep to stop him. "Is that guy crazy? Why would he hand us a shotgun? Does he not know that the noise would draw 'em in for miles?" I couldn't help but ask Daryl the questions that I really wanted to ask Albert himself.

Daryl seemed to take in what I was saying as he examined the shotgun. "Maybe he didn't know. But hell, I ain't gonna turn down FREE weaponry." That is a good point. Even though it wouldn't be the greatest idea to use a weapon that would emanate such noise, it could be our savior if we got swarmed. Nodding my head in understatement, I quickly readied my bow and arrow. While I got myself prepared, Daryl decided to keep the shotgun out of his way for now. He looked it over to make sure there were bullets in the chamber, but the safety was on. Then he placed it in his backpack. It stuck out about halfway, but we hugged the zippers around it to help secure it.

With that, we weaved our way through the campsites. Some tents were still set up, while others had gotten torn to pieces. There were even a few campfires still going in some of the areas. We decided to try and clear the area before making our way to the station in the back of the campgrounds, this way we could safely scavenge for supplies.

Passing the first three campsites was simple, considering none of them were occupied by dead folk. Crossing the small bridge that hung over a skinny creek, lead us to the rest of the campsites. By the noise alone, we knew to be more careful here. You could hear the dead moaning, growling and eating in the background. Then came the God-awful smell of rotting flesh. The first site we came to, had one asshole literally eating his meal at the picnic table. The site of one dead man, eating another dead man sprawled out over a picnic table, was definitely a phenomenon I wanted to avoid in the future.

Daryl volunteered to sneak up behind it and lay it down with his knife, while I went for the closed tent to look for anything useful. Before unzipping the tent, I figured it'd be best if I put away the bow and arrow, and draw my knife instead. Taking my nails, I wiggled my fingers over the thin, silky material. This made enough noise to let me know if there were any trapped inside, but not enough to alert any others that might be around. Not hearing or seeing anything moving inside, I cautiously unzipped the small flap of a door.

There wasn't much inside, but something did catch my attention rather quick. Over to the left wall of the tent, sat a small cooler stuffed plum-full of MREs. A stack of about, ten Meals Ready to Eat, is definitely what we need in a situation like this. They're quick, don't take up much space and should be enough to hold us over for a while. Swiftly sliding my bag from my shoulders, I took every last one of 'em and stuffed 'em in. Seeing that I was done here, I moved to exit the tent. Daryl stood waiting for me outside the door, and took my hand to help me to my feet once I got close enough. While replacing my knife into its holster and returning my bow and arrow to my hands, Daryl curiously asked, "Ya find anything?"

I couldn't help but give him a bit of a condicinding smile. "I scored TEN MREs. We hit the jackpot in this fucker."

He smirked at my cockyness and playfully shoved my shoulder. This was his way of saying, 'Good job'. The playfulness went away, however, as we moved on to the next site. I quickly shot an arrow into the back of a dead female's head, while Daryl stabbed the male that was hunched over eating another dead person. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if his meal was a man or a woman at one point. There was basically nothing but mush where the face should be, and the torso was completely ripped apart. Albert's conversation over the radio was right, there WAS a lot of folks holed up here. But it seems like the majority of 'em are DEAD dead, while the rest turned into brainless monsters with nothing but basic instincts.

My thoughts were interrupted, however, when the flickering light of the camp fire reflected off of something metal in my peripheral. Apon further investigation, I immediately called my huntin' partner over. "Daryl, get yer ass over here."

He looked at me confused of what I wanted, before his eye site finally caught on to what I had found. He smiled. "Aw, shit. A fuckin' hatchet?" Quickly bending over and gripping onto the handle, he pulled the hatchet from the skull of a male. He gave it a quick once over, then squatted down so he could clean the blade off in the grass as best he could. This weapon could possibly be a better choice than running around with only a hunting knife. But we soon moved on. We still want to find this ranger and his vehicle as fast as possible.

Shifting through the small gravel road that lead to the different sites, we were caught off guard when a dead female came out of nowhere and jumped in front of Daryl. Inside I was screaming from fear of his safety, but I knew better than to let it escape into the outside. I had intentions to take aim and try to shoot it, but Daryl was faster. He held the hatchet with both hands and used it to push the biter back. It stumbled, trying to catch its balance and go back for the fresh meat, but Daryl ran behind her and slammed the hatchet blade into her skull. Trying to gain control of my breathing, Daryl nodded his okay to help calm me down. It worked, but I was still deeply worried. Then, I couldn't help but wonder, is this how he felt when I got grabbed back in Sedalia?

After what seemed like hours of sneakin' up on dead folk and RE-killing 'em, we felt that it was relatively safe to free roam. We used this opportunity to search for any supplies, while also trying to move fast. When we met back up, there surprisingly wasn't much, considering how many people thought it was a good idea to camp here. But while I was scavenging, I did take notice to how many empty cans and other things that kinda gave me an idea of what happened here. To me, it seems like these people managed to survive out here for a while before they got overrun. Presenting our finds, however, there were only; a few cans of corn, green beans and sliced peaches. A small pack of batteries for our flashlight. A couple flares and few bottled waters that were still manufacturly sealed.

Visiting the last campsite before heading for the station, we did find a couple of things. One of which being a box of shotgun ammo. But what was really interesting, was the item sitting next to the ammo. Daryl picked it up and investigated it before showing the object to me. It was a ranger hat...with pretty fresh blood splattered all across it. Daryl decided to keep the hat for the time being and stuffed it in between his belt and the hem of his jeans. Looking at him with concern for our find, I asked, "What do ya make of it, Dixon? That blood was just starting to coagulate." He kept his gaze to the ground in thought, but I continued to push. "What if that ranger's dead? What if we can't find keys to a new ride? What if we're just totally FUCKED, Daryl? We can't just wander through the damn woods like a bunch of drunks, tryin' ta find our way back home. We'll be mauled."

His anger spiked and in the blink of an eye, his hand reeled forward and took a tight hold of my chin. Moving his glaring eyes directly in front of mine, he spoke in a low growl. "Would you just shut the fuck up already? It's fine-"

But I wasn't hearing it. Grabbing hold of his hand and peeling it from my face, I stepped back and gave him a glare of my own. "No I WON'T shut the fuck up. And no it AIN'T fine. Don't you get it? We're dead if we can't find this guy and use his ride to get the hell outta here. We ain't gonna make it, stumblin' 'round in the damn dark."

Daryl just scoffed and began to pace. "Well, what the HELL do ya want me to do? Huh, Kelsi? I ain't magic. I can't shit a new ride from outta my ass."

"Oh, you stupid son-of-a-bitch. Ya know what-" but that was all of the retaliation that could make it out, before I was grabbed. AGAIN. This time, however, I kept a firm grip on my arrow. The bow did manage to fall from my hand, but all I needed to handle this was the tip of my arrow. I could see Daryl tryin' to move for me, but it was too late. My arrow tip had already sunk deep into the skull of the dead that was holding me by the time Daryl had got to me.

When I had finished retrieving and cleaning my arrow, Daryl already stood next to me, holding out my bow. I took it from him as he asked, "You alright, KJ?"

Deep down I wanted to finish what I was gonna say, but I knew that no amount of yelling at the handsome redneck would really help our dilemma. I sighed and gave him a quiet, "I'm good." then collected myself. Once I was comfortably back in 'fight or die' mode, we started toward the back of the campgrounds.

It wasn't a far walk, but as we got closer to the T in the road, we couldn't help but be concerned about the blood trail. Following the blood, it lead us to what we were looking for, but not how we was hoping to find it. Daryl spoke quietly, "And there's the ranger's car." Indeed, there it was. Parked right in front of the sign that informed us the Fire Station was on the right, and the Ranger Station to the left. But lying next to the ranger's jeep is where the blood trail ends. It was the body of a male deputy. His backpack thrown to the ground on his left and his entrails webbed across his torso. So now that we found the ranger's vehicle, we just need to find the ranger. Or...at least his keys.

Deciding to go ahead and try to find some more supplies first, we went down the right side of the T towards the small Fire Station. The garage door was open, but crouched in front of the doorway was a feasting eater. Daryl made quick work of slamming his hatchet into its head, as I made my way inside. There, chewing on a ranger lying on top of the desk, was a male that was missing an arm. I whipped my knife from its sheath and snuck behind the eater, stabbing its head just as it started to face me. At this point Daryl was behind me, flashlight on and giving a quick look through the doorway leading to the small kitchen. But I was too interested in finding out if this torn up man, was the ranger we were lookin' for. Apparently Daryl was too, since he asked, "That him?"

Leaning over, I searched for some type of identification. However, it was hard to see anything through the dark shadows of the room. "Shine that light over here, Dixon." He did and I immediately caught glimpse of a name tag. "This ain't him. We're lookin' for Hartwell. This guys name was Jackson."

The sound of growling caught our attention as a biter made its way from out of the kitchen, arms outstretched in hopes of grabbing one of us. Daryl slammed the hatchet down, putting it out of its misery. That blow, however, proved too much to handle for the rusted up weapon. The blade completely came off of the handle. Not having time to really fiddle with it, we moved on. There were bodies laid about everywhere, but we kept a sharp eye in case one of 'em tried to get up. Laying on the dinner table was another MRE. I motioned for Daryl to turn around, then placed the package in his backpack. Then we moved to the garage.

Dealing with the two dead folk inside, we was just about to walk out and head for the Ranger Station. However, I couldn't help but smile at the object I found conveniently placed on a shelf. "Here ya go trouble maker. Found somethin' better than a rusty ol' hatchet."

He stood just outside of the garage, patiently waiting to see what I had found. A smirk quickly forming as I held it out to him. "Look at'cha." He started before grabbing hold of his new weapon. "Ya must really love me, KJ. First ya give me a hatchet, now ya find me a fire axe." It was hard not to blush when he suggested that I love him, even though he was clearly joking around. That was pushed aside though as he continued. "Gotta say, this is definitely a gift I ain't gonna have ta return."

Leaving the abandoned Fire Station and all its dead bodies, we put away the flashlight and used the streetlights to guide us in the direction of the Ranger Station. It wasn't a long haul, but we stayed alert and cautious. Taking down the five dead folk that was waddling on the gravel road, we finally made it to our destination. It seemed eerily quiet though. This gave my paranoid self an alternative, which I quickly shared with my partner before he walked in the front door. "Hold up. Let's go 'round the back, in case this place is swamped. Never know, there could be twenty of 'em havin' a fuckin' house party in there."

He looked back at the quiet, dark building and thought about it for a short moment. Ultimately agreeing though and taking lead towards the back of the Station. There was a male and a female wandering around by the back door, but we quickly took care of 'em. Carefully entering through the doorway, making sure to shut and lock it behind us, we're immediately faced with the kitchen area. Giving it a quick glance, we already knew that scavenging the tiny room was pointless. All of the cabinets were left open and empty. And the fridge had blood smeared all over it, which instantly turned me off to searching the appliance for food.

Coming out of the kitchen and into the main room, we had full intentions to scope through the area, but something else completely caught our attention. Mere seconds after walking through the doorway, we heard a panicked woman's voice over a radio speaker. "Ranger! Ranger Hartwell?! Are you still there?! It's Elizabeth! Ranger! Hello?! Is anyone there?! HELLO?!" Not exactly expecting it, we both embarrassingly jumped and let out a short 'yelp'. Realizing we're not in immediate danger, we gathered up our pride and found the radio in question.

Daryl picked up the mic and pushed the button on the side to talk to her, all the while his eyes scanned the open room. "Hello? I don't see no Ranger here, lady." While listening to them speak, I couldn't help but notice the bulletin board on the wall behind the radio. Several sticky notes where tacked on. All saying things like; Campgrounds not safe. Any survivors? Got swarmed. This made my panic level rise, but I kept quiet to hear what Elizabeth had to say.

You could hear the ever growing fear in her voice. It was as plain as day. This woman was in trouble. "I was jus TALKING to him! Who is this?!"

Daryl tried to stay calm as he answered her, in hopes that it would stick to the poor girl. "I'm Daryl, the guy you just scared the crap out of. My girl Kelsi's here too. Where are you?"

I wasn't too sure if it was the radio cuttin' in and out, or if Elizabeth was on the border of having a panic attack. "I'm at a Motel in Pemberton! I'm-there was a deputy here, but...h-he's dead. I'm...I'm using his radio-thing...They're right outside the DOOR! Can you hear them?!" She was so frantic it was kinda hard to understand her.

Grabbing the mic from Daryl, I tried to calm the girl down myself. "Elizabeth? Elizabeth sweetie, can you hear me? This is Kelsi."

At this point it was evident the woman was in tears. As the speaker cut in and out while she spoke, I could hear the banging and growls in the background. "K-Kelsi...I'm-scared!...They're gonna get me! What do I do?!"

Using a sympathetic, yet stern voice, I tried to navigate her out of her fear. "Listen to me sweetheart. Ya gotta calm down. Control your breathing. Trust me, the last thing you want is to have a bad panic attack and pass out. Ya understand?" Silence..."Hello? Elizabeth?"

It was quiet for a moment, but we both jumped again when her scream came through. "HELP! They're gonna get in! Please!"

Growing impatient, but still trying to help the woman, Daryl snatched the mic from my hand. "Keep it together, Elizabeth. Stay quiet. They can probably hear you."

It seems like our efforts are frivolous, however, when her voice came back through. "NO! NOOO! Ranger! Come help me! Come help me, PLEASE!"

Frustrated, Daryl hollered through the mic. "Lady! Elizabeth! There AIN'T no ranger-" He wasn't able to finish, because we found the ranger. The damn thing popped outta nowhere and jumped Daryl, knocking him on his back. Unfortunately, we both screamed...pretty loud too. Daryl was struggling to hold the dead man back, his fiercely chomping teeth getting closer. I could feel my body trying to become paralyzed with fear, but then my autopilot kicked back into gear.

Pulling my knife out, I stabbed the back of his head as hard as I could. Then stabbed him again for good measure. When his body finally stopped fighting, Daryl kicked him off so hard, he actually flung back a few feet. Putting my knife back into place, my hands instantly moved to grab hold of my partners arm, helping him to his feet while frantically asking, "Are you okay? You hurt?"

Once he got his balance back, he answered me fully annoyed while trying to clean the blood off his face with his shirt. "Naw, I'm alright." He leaned over the unmoving body and read his name tag out loud. "Fuckin' Hartwell. Where the hell are your keys?" As he searched the body, I readied my bow and arrow and swiftly moved to check the office room. Not long after entering the room, I heard Daryl saying, "Yeah, I EARNED these.", along with the jingling of a key ring. Knowing that he found what we really needed, I was ready to leave. That's when I saw something in my peripheral. Two grenades. As soon as I picked them up, however, the sound of a whole group of dead folks banging on the walls echoed through. Soon after, came Daryl's panicked, "C'mon Kelsi! We gotta go!"

Meeting him outside of the office, we ran back into the kitchen to sneak out the back door. Once we made it out, I handed him one of the grenades. "Here! Soon as we get to the front, throw 'em right at those assholes and blow this joint!"

He quickly nodded and making it to the front, it was obvious we wouldn't last long if we tried to fight. There was at least thirty of 'em. Where they fuckin' came from, I don't know, but we're gonna make it out of this. Right when a handful of 'em caught wind of us, we pulled the pins and tossed both grenades right into the mist of the group. Almost midway through the road leading back to the ranger's jeep, we heard the booms and felt the ground rumble. We didn't want to stick around to find out if that took care of all of 'em or not, so we sprinted towards our get away car.

Coming closer, we spotted Jess standing by the driver's side, his back facing us. Daryl pulled the key ring from his pocket and wiggled them in the air as he addressed his uncle. "Hey! Jess! Don't worry 'bout wiring it! I got the keys!" His lack of response didn't go unnoticed, but Daryl still grabbed hold of his shoulder. The sound of growling and gurgling came along with Daryl's gasp as Jess gripped onto his arms. He had turned. Even though we knew in our hearts this would happen, we had hopes that we were wrong. But we wasn't wrong. Jess was bitten earlier in the day and now he's one of those man eating monsters. It was heart shattering hearing Daryl's screams as he fought to stop his own uncle from tearing him to shreds. "Jess! Aw, jess! No!"

I moved to help him, but Daryl had already plunged the blade of his knife, deep into Jess' eye socket. His body dropped with an agonizing 'thump'. Daryl stood there for a short moment, keeping his back facing me. But I knew he was wiping away his tears. The sound of more dead folks growling, however, reminded us that we don't have time for grieving at the moment. So, we both moved quickly into the jeep and drove off towards the front.

Getting back to where we started, we noticed two things. Officer Albert Lee was gone...and Officer Jimmy Blake was on top of Jess' truck, a small group of geeks trying to reach him. Daryl pushed down the accelerator and ran over the pack of six dead folk. This gave Jimmy the opportunity to quickly jump in the jeep. Then we were off into the night, back on the road. Settling into the silence as we relish in the horrible events that had transpired this day.


	8. FONTANA

**Hello dearest readers. First thing- to my Anonymous reviewer. I really wish you wasn't logged in as a guest, because I would send you a PM to personally thank you. But since that's not the case; I want to say thank you so much for your lovely reviews, they are greatly appreciated. Second- this chapter seems, at least to me, SUPER FREAKIN' LONG! It felt like it took decades to write. But I must admit, I feel kinda proud that this is the longest chapter I've ever written for a fanfiction. But I want to know from my readers if you don't mind the long chapters, or would you rather I split it up next time?**

 **-Kaylamrr**

TWD Ch. 8

Riding in a dead man's Jeep, in the middle of the night, with pure silence in the air, during the apocalypse...is definitely in my top five places I never thought I'd be stuck in. Right next to: Under a fat guy. In fact, I think I'd RATHER be stuck under a fat guy. I'm usually not one to complain, but this freakin' SUCKS. Though I'd never admit it out loud, I'm scared. I'm scared because the reality I'm faced with, is that I could die at any second. I'm scared, because I could lose Daryl...like how we lost Jess. Or how we lost Will.

I've 'known' Daryl for about, three years now. The first year I met him, he was a complete asshole. Just like his brother. They'd come into Jacob's Video Store and demand for someone's constant help. Or bitch about how long it would take me to get through a line of ten people. Or go into the adult section in the back, call me in there for 'help', only to ask me loads of inappropriate questions. Like; 'Do you think this chick's tits are real, or is those knockers stuffed wit' silicone?' Or; 'Do you women really get off on bein' chained up like that?'

But in the second year, things changed. Why, I don't really know. But Daryl would start to come into the video store, WITHOUT his brother. He was quiet at first. Kept to himself most of the time. The first few times I'd go up to him and ask if he needed any help, he'd just snap at me. 'Does it look like I need help? I ain't touched in the head.' Normally I would cuss out any of our rude customers, not exactly worried about it endangering my job. Daryl Dixon, however? Something about him made my stomach do flips every time I got near him.

About half way through my second year of knowing him, his personality started to open up. Even if it was only a little bit at a time. I would see him staring at a certain DVD and ask him questions like, 'Have ya ever seen this one?' Or 'Are you really interested in something like that?' Then we would make small talk whenever he came in. We'd chat about movies I thought he would like. Or talk bad about the ones he didn't. Then it moved to him coming in everyday. We started talking about things outside of Jacob's Video Store. Then we started joking with each other. Close to the end of that second year, our 'visits' became more flirtatious. All of this, leading to his wanting to 'train' me.

Now, here we are, in the midst of that third year. We've already had sex three different times, kissed here and there. But none of it has ever felt deep. I know that the younger Dixon cares for me, at least as a friend. And I know that I'm in love with him. Or...that's the only thing I can think to use to describe how he makes me feel. I don't know why I'm thinking about this now, when the world is already at it's end. It sounds sorta pointless.

But after losing Jess...I can't help but notice that Daryl has blocked everything off. He's so quiet, with a permanent scowl on his handsome face. It's like he's curled up into himself. And the only thing that keeps running through my mind when I look at him, is; I hope he knows how much I love him. And that I'm right here. I WANT him to see me as a crying shoulder. I WANT him to see me as an escape goat to feeling lonely. I WANT him to know...that at this point...I NEED him. If you don't have something to fight for in this new world of ours...then what's the point of fighting?

He still has Merle...but who do I have? Everyone I ever loved is dead. The only family member that might still be out there, is my daddy. But I haven't seen him in years. For all I know, the man could've moved to China and is now stuck there, huddled in a corner with his new Asian family. The only person I have left to fight for is the man that I love. A man that...I don't even know if he loves me. Daryl Dixon...is the reason I'm still fighting. The REASON that I'm still alive. And...I just want him to know that.

But I can't think about that stuff right now. Because right now, we have to figure out where the hell we're gonna sleep. It's been such a long day and I'm tired. We need to rest up anyway, before we get to Fontana and REALLY start our search for Merle. Lifting my chin up from my knuckles, I decide to break the silence and ask our Officer what I've been meaning to ask him since we left the campgrounds. "Hey, Jimmy? Did ya find anything we could use back there?"

The man was already on the verge of passing out, so it took him a moment to process what I had asked him. When it finally did register, he jumped and let out an, "Oh!" He leaned over the back of his seat into the trunk and moved things around until he found what he was looking for. Then he held it up for me to see while saying, "I found us some sleeping bags. I also found a case of bullets for my rifle, but not much else. That place was pretty torn up and I got chased before I could even make it in the back. Had to bolt for the truck."

I smiled at the silky, rolld up fluff of a 'bed'. It made me want to unravel that thing as fast as possible and snuggle on in. However, that smile soon faded when I realized our next problem. "Now we just gotta figure out where we can sleep without being ripped apart."

Jimmy frowned and sat the sleeping bag on the seat next to him. My eyes traveled to my huntin' partner in the driver's seat. Lookin' for his solution to our problems...like I always do. But the man stayed quiet, unmoving other than the slight motion of the steering wheel. My heart sank at the uncontrollable doubt that was steadily rising within me. That is, until I heard a 'click' in the back seat, followed by Jimmy's excitement. "Hey! These seats fold into the floor!"

My smile quickly came back, and I couldn't help but notice Daryl give a short glance into the review mirror. "We can fold the seats down and sleep in the back. It might be a tight fit, but it beats being exposed. We could probably rig up a way to block out the windows too, so the Geeks won't notice us as quickly."

It was silent for a moment, until Daryl's voice finally rang through the air. "Alright. We'll stop here. Duct Tape some clothes over the windows."

Jimmy and I both nodded as he pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road and into the grass. The three of us piled out and stretched our aching muscles. Then the two boys helped each other fold the seats down, as I got everything else that we'd need from the trunk. As soon as we had finished laying our sleeping bags side by side, Jimmy suddenly stopped. A blush formed across his cheeks as he slowly moved to pick up the roll of toilet paper. Daryl and I just gave him weird looks until he explained, "I gotta go. Be right back."

The immature little kid in me couldn't help but laugh, knowing that he's embarrassed about having to take a shit. Once I was able to calm down, I handed him his knife and said, "Watch your back out there. Try not to take too long." His cheeks grew even redder as he took the knife, before turning and heading for the tree line.

It was silent once more as Daryl and I taped shirts and towels over the windows. But I was tired of the silence. "Daryl?"

He kept his eyes on the task as he quietly answered with, "Hmm?"

Finishing up my last window, I climbed out of the Jeep and stood outside the open door. "Are you okay?"

He ripped another piece of tape off with his teeth and mumbled, "'m fine, Kelsi."

I don't know why his answer hurt so badly. Why I couldn't just get over the fact that, maybe he just don't wanna talk about it. But, I needed him to be okay again. "You're not fine, Daryl. Ya don't have to be afraid to-"

"Afraid?!" He pulled himself out of that Jeep and stood in front of me so fast, I really thought he was gonna hit me or something. But when he didn't, my body relaxed again...sort of. His face scrunched into an angry scowl as he moved closer to me. "I ain't afraid'a NOTHIN'! Ya got that?! I told ya I was fine and I meant it. There aint nuttin' 'fore ya to worry 'bout. Ain't got no scratches-ain't BITTEN! So jus' leave me be already."

Him taking out all his anger on me like that, it hurt. But then it pissed me off. So when he tried to walk away, I grabbed a hold of his shirt and used it to slam him against the side of the Jeep. His eyes were wide at first, then they dangerously narrowed at me. But I didn't care. "What the HELL is your problem, Dixon?! I'm tryin' to help you-"

"I don't need ya damn help! What part'a that don't'cha understand?!"

Shaking my head, my fists curled into the collar of his shirt. "Why do you have to be such an asshole to me? I know you're tore up 'bout losin' Jess, but-"

"You don't know SHIT." And with that, he pulled my hands from his shirt. I figured that he would just try to walk away again, but he surprised me with what he did next. The air in my lungs escaped me along with a gasp as I was swung around, then thrown into the side of the Jeep where the redneck once stood. "Why are you so persistent 'bout stickin' your nose where it don't fuckin' belong? Why can't ya just take 'I'm fine' and be happy and shut ya damn mouth? Huh?"

In the heat of my anger, I gathered up as much strength in my arms as I could muster and pushed him away from me. Only managing to knock him back a couple of feet. "Why can't you take the fact that I fuckin' care about you?!" His face showed that of shock then. As if me caring about him was a secret he's just now finding out about. Or is he just so use to nobody caring, that he just automatically assumes no one ever will? "Ya heard me right, ya prick. I care about ya. And I get it, Daryl. I know you're hurt. You have every right to be, and you shouldn't be ashamed of that." Just looking at him, I knew he was trying to hide his pain. But he taught me too well. How to read body language and search for signals. His shoulders slowly began to slump, his gaze left my eyes and moved to the dying grass below our feet. The signs of his hurt were starting to break through. "You're not a pussy and ya ain't weak. It's human nature to hurt when someone you care about leaves you. Especially in the world we live in now. But...I'm just tryin' to tell you...that I'm here." At this point, his head had perked up to look back into my eyes. Just in time to catch the tears escaping them. "I'm right, fuckin', here. I want you to talk to me. I want you to let go of your pain, and put it all on me. I want ya to know that I'm here for you. And that ya ain't gotta worry about me judgin' you, or callin' ya fuckin' sissy."

He stepped closer to me then. And as I was letting the tears free-fall, his body shook to hold them back. I could hear his voice start to crack as he spoke to me. "Why, Kelsi? Why would ya care 'bout someone like me?"

"Because I do, Daryl. Because I like the person you are. Because even though you don't see it...your life is worth so much more than what you were taught."

His eyes moved to look at anything but me, blinking rapidly in an attempt to will the tears away. But he couldn't. The back of his hand moved quickly to wipe the liquid away, but it just kept coming. Not being able to control and hide the water works made him angry. My body jumped as his hands slammed onto the Jeep on both sides of my head, essentially trapping me between his arms. Then it was quiet while I watched the man I love slowly break and fight to keep from showing his feelings. His head dipping into his chest to let out a quick whimper. But when he looked back into my eyes, I could finally see the tears rolling down his dirty cheeks. "Why can't ya just shut the fuck up?"

Then his lips melted into mine. Our tounges dancing for only a moment, before he stopped to rest his forehead on mine, his eyes closed and his breath heavy. "Daryl?"

He slid his calloused fingers across my wet face until they rested in my hairline. Then his deep blue eyes opened to me once more. "You go where I go Kelsi...ya don't leave me."

I wiped the fallen tears from his face as I whispered, "I know." And with the sound of the forest floor crunching under approaching footsteps, our bodies peeled apart. Daryl sucked the snot back into his nose and dried his eyes as he swiped the forgotten roll of Duct Tape up from the pavement. Finally seeing Jimmy stumbling out of the woods, I dried my eyes as well and used what little humor I possessed to lighten the mood. "Everything come out alright? Officer Full of Shit?"

When we woke up, we made quick work of gathering our stuff up and getting back on the road. Making it to Fontana by around noon. That is, if I'm reading the sun correctly. Piling out of the Jeep, I collected all of my gear and readied my bow while Daryl gave Officer Blake his task. "Find whatever ya can. Meet us back here when you're finished. And watch ya back. Place is lousy with eaters. Somethin's got 'em bowed up."

Before Blake had a chance to answer, we found out what that 'something' was. The sound of gun shots and car alarms rang through the air. Jimmy immediately got low to the ground, while Daryl put his arm around my head and pulled me into his chest as we ducked. After another gun shot set off a different car alarm, I finally put it together that we wasn't the ones being sniped at. "Why the hell would someone be shootin' off car alarms?"

Standing back up, Daryl scanned the area as he answered me. "To draw 'em in, for whatever reason." Making eye contact with the Officer one last time, we went our separate ways. Turning the corner and making it to a small parking lot in the back of the buildings, we noticed that there were fewer Geeks roaming around. Which prompted Daryl to say, "Least it's a little quieter." All the while, the sound of shots and alarms continued in the background.

Moving out into the parking lot, two Geeks immediately spotted us off to the right. Stumbling their way to us, growling and hissing. I pulled back my string and let the arrow go into the forehead of the male, while Daryl used his fire axe to hack off the female's head. Pulling my arrow out of the dead bastard's skull, we decided to crouch and move along the walls of the buildings to our right, attempting to avoid as many confrontations as possible.

There were not only 'live' Geeks, but 'dead' ones as well. This tells me that someone else has been through here. Shooting my arrow into the male that spotted us, we quickly moved on. As we made our way around the abandoned army truck, we saw two Geeks crouched down and eating off to our left. There were more walking around, but we pulled out our knives and snuck up behind the ones that were annoyingly smacking their lips. My knife taking care of one, while Daryl's took care of the other.

A male that was once wandering around the place, took notice of us as we pulled our knives from our prey. Daryl quickly ran up to that one and beheaded it with his axe. This allowed me to re-quip my bow and arrow. To the right of us was a locked gate, but the one in front of us was left open, along with a female damn-near jogging toward us. Yanking my knife back out of its holster, I stomped in front of her and shoved the blade into her skull, just as she started to reach for me.

Moving through the open gate, we ducked behind the green dumpster so we could scan our surroundings. We were in an even smaller parking lot this time. Daryl quietly whispered, "Where are you, Merle?" Leaving him to his thoughts, I snuck up behind a male that was just standing by a blue Nissan, grabbing hold of his shoulder and stabbing him before he even knew I was there.

As I, once again, readied my long ranged weapon, the head of a female rolled right in front of me. Looking up just in time to see its torso fall to the pavement, I nodded my thanks to Daryl. At this point, I decided to shut the gate with as less noise as possible, in hopes that the Geeks wouldn't know how to open it. This could hopefully prevent us from getting swarmed or overwhelmed.

Shooting an arrow into a male that was in the process of standing up, we started to hear banging and scratching. The noise was coming from a wooden door leading to the building in front of the gate we came through. It didn't take long for two undead guys to break through the door and stumble for us. I was able to shoot down both of them before they got too close, while Daryl decapitated two that had been shuffling around the cars.

While collecting and cleaning my arrows, we heard screams coming from the opened back door of a Diner. I looked at Daryl with concern, but he nodded his head once toward the door. Guess we're goin' in. Moving toward the dark pathway into the Diner, Daryl pulled out the flashlight and gave us some vision, while whispering, "What have we got here?"

Moving through the short hallway, Daryl immediately turned the light back off. We could hear a group of 'em snarling and growingly in the front of the Diner. That's not all we heard, however. There was also a woman's voice bouncing off the walls. "All right, buddy. It's okay. We're gonna get through this." Once we got into the actual dining area, we knew to be careful here. Behind the counter, there were four Geeks trying to tear through the gate that lead into the kitchen. Their trapped meal was a woman with red hair, standing behind the gate. When she saw us moving toward the counter, she yelled, "Hey! A little help over here?!"

Luckily, she had her four predators so damn distracted, I was able to climb on the counter and shoot 'em down, one by one. But we knew there were more around the corner. We could hear them banging and scratching on the metal door that kept them from their food. I walked along the counter top while Daryl kept to the other side. There was two females on his side of the counter and two males on my side, they were the ones hitting the door. I quickly shot down the two in front of the door, while Daryl chopped away at the others. While retrieving and cleaning all of the arrows, Daryl yelled at the woman. "Ya can open the door now!"

Walking behind Daryl through the doorway, we had to climb over a toppled table that was placed in front of the door. As Daryl took my hand to help me over, I put away my weapons and got a good look at what we were dealing with. The red headed woman was kneeling by a man in front of the freezer door. He was a darker skinned man, but I couldn't pin-point where he was from. What I did notice, however, was the man's bleeding right shoulder.

Once Daryl shut and locked the door behind us, then made it to his spot beside me, the woman stood, smiled and said, "Thanks. From both of us."

Instead of welcoming her, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the man's wound. Seems that Daryl caught on too. He nodded toward the guy and asked, "He bit?"

The woman sighed before answering. "Huh-uh. Gunshot." She nodded towards the front doors of the Diner before continuing, "Some crazy asshole is sniping at us...and car alarms. I dragged Noah in here. They followed."

Raising an eyebrow at her, I asked, "Who's 'us'?"

Then Daryl followed my lead. "You two?"

She shook her head. "Got a whole team out there. Or...did. We scavenge supplies for the local survivor camps."

I couldn't stop myself from looking at her like she was crazy. But Daryl managed to ask the question we both had running through our minds. "There's survivor camps?"

This time, the woman mirrored the look I was giving her. "Um, yeah? The military supplies some of them with weapons, meds,...there's a big one at the Cherokee Hills Sawmill. We were doing pretty well, until that psycho-sniper showed up and brought a whole mob of biters down on top of us. We got split up, pinned down, killed..." Her gaze hit the floor then. We gave her a moment of silence before her head perked back up and she continued, "I need to get my people together. One of my runners, Mia, is holed up in the theater across the street. Help her out and I'll make it worth your while. Trade you for one of those." Our eyes followed what her finger was pointing at. She had a small pile of large, black duffle bags in the corner. Most likely full of what they managed to scavenge in the city, before they were attacked. Since I remained silent, she looked to Daryl and smiled. "Lots of goodies in there, hillbilly. Just tell her Scout sent you."

Scout? Wait a minute...HILLBILLY? Who does she think she is? Askin' us for help, then callin' people names? Just as I was about to open my mouth, Daryl must of caught on to my ever growing anger. He took hold of my good arm and started dragging me to the door, while telling the woman, "I'll think about it." Once we were back into the dining area, we heard Scout lock the door again. However, we didn't even get a chance to get on the other side of the counter, before both sets of the front doors busted open.

Now faced with four biters heading our way, we pulled out our weapons and got into position. Jumping back onto the counter top, I took aim and shot the two that was farthest from us, while Daryl axed away the other two. While pulling my arrows from the heads of two dead bitches, I couldn't help but be reminded of my anger toward the bitch stuck in the kitchen. Askin' Daryl for help, smilin' at him, callin' him a fuckin' hillbilly. That bitch wouldn't know a hillbilly from a sock.

Before heading for the theater, we decided to back track a little and go back to the small parking lot behind the Diner. We wanted to check out the building to that door that was busted down. As soon as we opened the back door, there was male Geek just standing there, his back facing us. Daryl immediately reacted by burying his blade into its bald head. Seeing that there wasn't any more immediate danger, I chose to use this time and address Daryl about Scout. "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doin'?"

He was obviously confused about what I meant. "I'm re-killin' dead folks, KJ. What the fuck are ya yappin' on about now?"

Pointing to the Diner, I answered him, "About Scout. That stupid, fire crotch, bitch. 'I'll think about it.' Really, Daryl? She calls ya a hillbilly, and you say 'I'll think about it'? Those 'goodie' bags'a hers are probably empty."

"Well, we won't know that 'til we go find her friend. Now will we?" He squatted down to clean the blade of his knife, trying to act like this conversation was nothing.

Not wanting to get into yet another argument, I stomp past him mumbling, "Whatever." The closer I got to the now opened doorway, however, the louder the growls got. But from what I can tell, it only sounds like maybe one or two. Which I was right, 'cause two males limped out into the parking lot. Pulling my string back and taking aim at the farthest one, my arrow moves through his left eye socket and barely peeked through the back. As I started to notch another arrow, Daryl ran past me and dropped the blade of his axe into the top of the other ones head. Damn-near splitting the thing in two.

Moving into what was once a small convenient store and finding it free of any more dead folk, we quickly search the place for anything useful. Unfortunately, the place was also free of...well, EVERYTHING. There was literally NOTHING left. All of the shelves were empty and looking into the small restroom, there wasn't even one roll of toilet paper left. Assuming this is the work of Scout and her team, we leave and head back to the Diner.

Getting to the front doors of the Diner, we can clearly see the semi-boarded up theater right across the street. However, the sounds of the ongoing gun shots and car alarms, were much louder. Peeking our heads out of the doorway to see what we're dealing with, we couldn't help but let out a low, simultaneous gasp. To the right of us was about five wandering Geeks. But to the left of us? Well, I couldn't even tell. There was a massive group of them chasing one car alarm after another. It seems like the 'psycho-sniper's' goal was to get them piled up by a car, then start a kill-streak of head shots.

That's sorta convenient for us, 'cause now we don't have to worry about getting caught by hundreds of cannibals. Since they were pretty darn distracted. Quietly making our way across the street, Daryl only had to axe one Geek while I shot down another. However, the big spray paint writing on the wall of the theater, didn't go unnoticed. 'KEEP OUT! QUARANTINE!'

We had to crawl under the small open space of a make-shift barricade that was blocking the double-doors to the theater. Once Daryl made it through and got back to his feet, he cupped his hand around his mouth and hollered, "Hey! Mia?!" No answer. We're in the main lobby, where you would by your tickets and popcorn. But there was no sound, no Geeks and no Mia in sight.

Seeing that it's pretty dark, Daryl decides to turn on the flashlight. This, however, awakens two females that we didn't even know was in here. They were at a good enough distance for me to take them both out. As Daryl moved to retrieve my arrows for me, I noticed an open door right across from the exit. When he came back and handed me my ammo, I pointed to the door. He nodded and slowly moved in to make sure there wasn't any more surprises.

After walking into the room, my forearm immediately moved to cover my nostrils. It was obvious what was causing the smell of death that radiated throughout the room. There were DEAD dead everywhere, along with empty cans and a duffle bag. Apon further investigation, Daryl mumbled, "Looks like the one Scout had." He quickly glanced around the foul smelling room before yelling, "Mia?!" Once again there was no answer.

To prevent myself from blowing chunks everywhere, I kept my nose covered. So when I spoke, it sounded a bit muffled. "How do we know one of these bodies don't belong to her?" Daryl just shrugged, however, and bent down to rummage through the forgotten 'goodie' bag.

It didn't take long for him to let out an angry grunt and mumble, "Ain't much in it." This tells me that this Mia girl must've camped in here for a little while. But who knows if she even made it out. Moving on and heading back into the lobby, we decide to check out the door behind the register counter on the left.

Soon as we opened the metal door that lead us to a hallway, we both jumped at what we saw. There was a door already opened on the left that had a dark headed woman peeking out of it. She immediately took off back into the doorway while screaming, "Ah, no! Don't shoot me!"

"Hey!" Daryl screamed back and darted after her. Putting my bow and arrow away, I pulled out my knife and followed after them. The whole time thinking, 'Don't shoot me'? Did she think that Daryl was this psycho-sniper guy?

We followed the woman up a red carpeted staircase and through the only door at the top. It's obvious this was a projection room and while the woman angrily greeted Daryl, I decided to shut and lock the door just in case. "Get away from me, you asshole!" Once she saw me move to stand next to him, she added, "What is she? Your slave or something? FREAK!"

All I could do is look at her like she's stupid and ask, "Slave?"

At first, Daryl was surprised and quickly answered, "What? No!" The woman just put her hands on her hips in non belief, but Daryl didn't have the patience for her and cursed back, "And I ain't the asshole you're worried about."

She pointed at him and asked, "Who ARE you then?"

Daryl shook his head at the girl and slammed the blade of his axe onto the floor. He then leand on the handle of it as if it was a walking stick while mumbling his answer, "I'm a different one." Then, as if giving her confirmation, there was another gunshot outside that was quickly followed by a car alarm. Daryl nodded to the general direction of the noise and said, "See? Not me."

The woman, that I'm assuming is Mia, seemed to relax slightly. However, there was still another confirmation that she needed to know of. So I looked her in the eyes and said, "And I ain't his slave."

Daryl stood straighter and added, "She's my girl. Uh, Scout asked us to come look for you."

She smiled and her body language became excited about that. "You know Scout? She sent you?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, the bitch in me decided to break through. "Yeah. But let me re-fraise what he said. Scout asked HIM to come look for you. Not me. I would'a left yer ass-"

Daryl's hand interjected me as it slapped over my mouth. I tried to pry him off of me, but he just wrapped his left arm over my chest to try and control my squirming. Then he quickly covered my attitude by saying, "She asked us to come find you. Her and Noah are across the street. In that Diner."

At that bit of information, her body language completely relaxed. She let out a deep breath and placed her hand over her heart while saying, "Oh, thank God." Daryl finally let me go and picked up the axe he had dropped. I made sure to give him a harsh glare while Mia bowed her head to say a quick prayer, but he just stuck his tongue out at me. Ignoring him, I put away my knife, seeing no real threat to keep it out. Once Mia picked her head back up, she decided to explain herself. "I thought the shooter...every time I put my head out, he's all over me. I lost all of my gear, so I'm pretty much trapped. The theater is locked up tight since they started moving corpses in there. Exit's blocked, and there's a bunch of them." She pointed to the open space in the wall behind the projector. "There's a half-ladder down. Clear the way and I can get out, and back to Scout."

Daryl used the back of his hand to rub away the perspiration on his forehead as he looked to the ladder. Giving his attention back to Mia he said, "Let's do it. We gotta get over to the Police Station to get my brother, anyway."

Mia swallowed hard and looked at the both of us as if we were crazy. "The Police Station? But that's where that killer is set up! You think your brother is even alive?!"

My eyes widened as soon as she said that. 'Oh, no. Don't tell me that means the pycho-sniper is actually Merle Dixon himself.' I guess Daryl is thinking the same as me. He answered the worried looking Mia with a quiet, "Yeah...I've got my suspicions."

Mia just shook her head at him and pointed back toward the ladder. "Well how do you plan on clearing the place out? There's more than just a couple."

Daryl just sighed and pulled the flashlight out of his pocket before clicking it on. "KJ can handle it." Mia gave him a confused look, but he just shrugged it off and moved to stand by the hole in the wall. Daryl shined the light down into the death-infested room as I took my position. Readying my long distance weapon, I sat down so that the ladder was between my thighs and the rest of my legs dangled over the edge. The light seemed to have caught the attention of the undead, their movements became more active. More hungry. Some of them tried to reach for me, scratching at the wall in hopes of getting to the fresh meat, but with no luck of course.

From what I could see, there was a lot of unresponsive corpses. The 'live' ones, however, I managed to count ten. Knowing that I had exactly twenty one arrows, including the one already notched, I told myself to just relax and take my time. They can't reach us, so I can easily pick them off, one by one. Which I did. It was like target practice with the moving objects all over again. Arrow after arrow lodged into the skull of every biter. Geek after Geek fell. You could hear each thud of their bodies dropping, echo through the room. And with each one that fell, the smile on my face grew larger. Some might see it as 'sick' or 'evil'. The fact that I thought it was fun to shoot down the animate corpses that once belonged to human souls. What was the difference between me, and the 'pyscho-sniper' just outside? But I didn't care. Someone had to do it. In my mind, with each undead that Daryl and I put down, made me feel like we were a tiny step closer to wiping out the one thing that could make us all extinct.

Once the last one dropped, I allowed my arms to rest for a moment. Mia was stunned as she looked over my shoulder at the results of my training. Daryl himself couldn't stop the proud smile from forming. He jokingly rubbed the top of my head to make me feel like a child as he said, "Like I said before, KJ. Your aim just gets better and better."

Giving him a quiet, "Thank you." I had to set my gaze back down to the floor, in an attempt to hide the red hue coming through the flesh of my cheeks.

Once Mia had come out of her stupor, she quickly said, "Thank you so much. You two go on. I'm gonna gather what little I have and make my way back to Scout."

The two of us nodded our okay and descended down the ladder, Daryl in the lead. Once he got to the end of the ladder, he jumped down to the red carpeted floor and quickly glanced around to make sure none of the bodies started moving. Finding no immediate danger, he bent his knees slightly and held out his arms. Giving me the okay to jump and that he would catch me. Trusting him completely and just like the first time, I shut my eyes and aloud myself to fall into his arms. A low grunt escaped him when he caught me, but I was just happy for not accidentally throwing his back out. We then quickly made work of collecting all of my arrows.

Making it to the back and toward the exit, we worked together to push the rolling table that was housing chairs on top of it, out of our way. We then readied our weapons before proceeding through the metal door. We both squinted at the bright sunlight and once our vision had adjusted, we immediately spotted our path to the back of the Police Station. With no dead in sight, we hopped over the short metal gate and ran to the back of the building.

There were four Geeks scratching at the door. Seeing that none of them were noticing us, I just shot them at a distance. When I finished retrieving my arrows, Daryl moved the bodies out of our way then slowly opened the door. He clicked on the flashlight and hollered, "Merle!" while I shut and locked the door behind us. Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.

Moving through the dark hallway, there was already a stench coming from the multiple bodies that littered the floor. Trying our best to ignore it, however, Daryl quickly decapitated the lone Geek so that we could move on. Once finished he then screamed, "DIXON!" With no answer he added, "HEY MERLE!" Of course the sound of his voice bouncing off the walls concerned me. At this rate, he's gonna lead every Geek in town to us. But I didn't dare say anything against it. For I knew that his heart was most likely racing, in fear of the chance that we might not find his brother alive.

Moving through the open doorway into a cubical office, we wiped out the five cannibals that roamed the place. Only using a short time to quickly check each cubical, we didn't find much. But there was something I did find. "Daryl, I got walkie-talkies and fresh batteries."

He smirked as I held two of them up for him to see. "Good. Grab three of 'em and let's go."

My body paused at that. Wait...only three? Daryl is one, me is two, Merle is three and Jimmy is...he doesn't want me to get one for Jimmy? "But, Daryl...what about Blake-"

I don't know if it's because of his already existing anxiety for finding his brother, or what? But his anger spiked at that. "We only need ones for family. Everyone else can fend for themselves."

Family, huh? "But, Daryl. If that's your logic...I'm not-"

He stomped in front of me and took hold of the bicep belonging to my good arm. Shaking me slightly as he said, "Yes you are, Kelsi. That stupid ex-cop is nothin' to me. If he wants a damn radio so bad, then he can go find one himself."

My eyebrows furrowed at him. Why is this making him so angry? "Daryl, I'm not your blood. I'm just a-"

But he once again interrupted me. "You're family ta ME, Kelsi. You've been there for me. You've always done right by me." He finally let go of my arm before continuing. "You were with me when all hell broke loose. But we gotta go get my brother, Kelsi. I know it's Merle we're talkin' 'bout...but damnit! He was locked in a fuckin' cage!"

Sighing, I decided to surrender and pick up only three radios. He turned around and as I secured our communication systems into his bag, I tried to bring hope back into his aching heart. "We're gonna find him, Daryl. Alive." Once his bag was zipped shut, he turned and looked at me with doubt. But I just smiled and said, "It's like ya said. This is Merle Dixon we're talkin' about here. And you and me both know that; nobody can kill Merle...but Merle."

Daryl dipped his head for a moment before lifting it back up, a confident smirk planted on his face. "Hmph. Let's go find the king of the monsters, then." Nodding my agreement with a smile, he turned to take the lead once more. Mumbling, "C'mon, Merle. Where ya hidin' at?" Coming out of the annoyingly cramped cubical office, we found ourselves in a waiting room. But what caught our attention the most, was an open door leading to a room of five cells. Once in the room, we noticed that most of the cells were locked shut, still housing prisoners. Only now those prisoners were monsters. Daryl just scoffed and mumbled, "Merle, in his natural habitat." Deciding to move forward toward the only cell left open, we figured this one had once belonged to the older Dixon. There was blood splattered all across the floor, along with a dead officer. Apon seeing the state of the jail cell, Daryl said, "Merle...oh man. You crazy son of a bitch..." We quickly glanced around to try and find any clues, but not seeing anything noticeable, he added, "Where did you get off to from here?"

The sound of another gunshot cracking through the air, gave me an idea of where he might be. "Daryl, the roof." He nodded, then we ran back out into the hallway. Immediately spotting the sign that had a picture of a staircase, we yanked the door open and made sure to shut it behind us.

Apon hearing yet another gunshot, Daryl couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "My brother, the asshole pyscho-shooter."

Laughing with him, I added, "Yeah. I'd say that about sums up your idiot of a brother." The laughing quickly stopped, however, as we jogged our way up three flights of stairs. Making it to the metal door that lead to the roof, I still kept my guard up. As much as I want it to be Merle out there, there's always that chance of it being someone else.

Daryl pushed on the door to open it, but it wouldn't budge. That's when 'his' voice rang out from the other side. "Ooooh, noooo! Sneakin' up are we?!" At the sound of a gun cocking, Daryl moved faster than my brain could even think. He gripped onto my bad arm and pulled me into him, just in time for a bullet to come flying through the door. I couldn't stop the 'hiss' from escaping me as a sharp pain shot through my arm. But I quickly ignored it as the idiot spoke again. "No, no, no!" BANG! Another shot through the door. "You're never gonna take me back there!"

Daryl's impatience grew as he let go of me. I just closed my eyes and let out an annoyed sigh while putting my bow and arrow away. Daryl threw his fire axe down the stairs in frustration before calling through the door, "Aw, c'mon Merle! It's me!" It was quiet after that, so he continued by hitting the door once with his fist and yelling, "Merle!"

But his brother responded back with something even crazier. "What's lower than impersonating a man's long-lost baby brother?! You're just tryin' to gain false entry! That's what you're doin'!"

Getting fed up with this myself, I yelled at him as well. "I'm here too, ya trigger-happy numb skull! Now open the damn door!"

But of course, he just didn't get it. "Oh, now you're tryna impersonate my brother's woman?! Well it ain't gonna work! Ya can't pull the wool over ol' Merle's eyes!"

Kicking the door, I screamed, "Aw! Stop talkin' 'bout ya self in third person!"

Having enough, the youngest Dixon put his foot down. He stomped in front of the door and said, "Damnit, Merle! I'm just gonna leave ya here!"

Guess that did it. Merle started to unlock the door while saying, "Keep ya pants on, sweetheart. I locked this place up pretty good." And with that, the door finally swung open. Merle reached out and grabbed his brother's vest, dragging him outside. However, Daryl had took hold of my shirt in the process, so I got pulled right along with him. Then Merle shut the door behind him and continued as he walked around us. "Them people locked me up for DAYS in the dark with all them ABOMINATIONS!" Watching him though, my stomach churned at how red he was. "But look'ee who's just a liitttlleee bit too smart for 'em!"

Seems like Daryl noticed what I was seeing as well. "Bro, you're stir-fried from the sun...and the booze, and whatever else ya been into."

Looking around, my eyes caught onto piles of empty beer and pill bottles. How he got his hands on it all I don't know. Merle stopped and wiped sweat from his brow as he admitted, "I do feel a lil' warm, now that ya mention it." Merle then paced for a moment before stumbling around by his lawn chair. "I sprang myself, ya see? Established my, little snipers nest right here." He swung out both arms to point at the chair and a make-shift table. Merle wasn't a normal guy to begin with, but even this is crazy for him. Facing back toward us, he smiled with pride. "And then I commenced ta sendin' them soldiers a-packin'! I raaannnggg the alarms-callin' in the abomination!"

Letting another annoyed sigh escape me, I legitimately face-palmed while Daryl blew up. "Man, those aren't soldiers down there! Just some scavengers tryna help people out! They don't even know who you are!"

Merle shook his head harshly, then pointed down toward the street. "They're in uniform, ain't they? And they come ta take me back to the HOLE!" Merle stomped in front of his brother, poking him in the chest as he continued. "I ain't goin' anywhere, but JAKE'S, and that's where you're gonna take me! Come on!"

He started to step between us and head for the door, but suddenly he was stumbling as bad as the undead. When his body began to lean a little too much, Daryl and I rushed to his side to catch him. That's when we felt the heat pouring out of him. Surprised that the man was even still alive I mumbled, "Holy shit."

But Daryl just got pissed off. He pushed his brother back on his feet saying, "Let's go, ya ape! Guess I gotta lug yer thick ass back across town!" As Merle held his head in his hands to get his balance back, the concern was finally starting to escape his younger brother. "Man...you must be runnin' over 106!"

Merle suddenly stopped, before spinning around screaming, "My chair!"

But Daryl and I snatched up his arm to pull him toward the door. His brother telling him, "Yeah, it'll be here when we get back."

To make a long damn story short. We went back to that Diner to get our bag, but that stupid bitch Scout and her little possie was gone. Nothing left but a set of car keys and note that read: Sorry. So, we drove our new ride back to the empty tank of a Jeep to get our stuff. And...sadly...there sat the body of Officer Jimmy Blake. The nasty lookin' bite on his arm was obvious, but what hurt the most, was seeing that he chose to blow his brains out rather than turn. Merle just hopped into the van sayin', "Ah, good riddance." Daryl thankfully kept quiet as he moved all of our stuff into the new vehicle. But me...I just said a little prayer. Hoping beyond hope that his death was at least painless. Getting out of Fontana, we discussed where we could find some antibiotics for Merle's fever. That's when I remembered Scout saying that the military provided meds to the survivor camps. And the one she said was the largest, was the one closest to us. So the three of us set out for our next destination. And hopefully not our last.


	9. The Sawmill

TWD Ch. 9

William Dixon, Jess Collins, Warren and Officer Jimmy Blake. Is this what we have to look forward to from now on? Death? Loss? A giant heap of grief that is forbidden to ever surface? And is it horrible of me to silently wish that Scout chick is dead instead of just M.I.A? The hour worth of peace we managed to keep during this ride has my stupid brain worried about things that is inevitable.

Daryl was driving, Merle was leaning against the passenger window, still sweatin' like a hog and I was in the middle of the back seat, trying to stop my annoying thoughts. Letting out a sigh, I decided to lean forward and remove the road map from the glove box. Maybe scoping out the area will rest my worries. The peace and quiet didn't last much longer, for Daryl had finally grown the courage to inform his brother of how truly great our losses have been. "Merle." The younger brother kept his gaze on the road as the oldest gave him his full attention. He quietly continued, but I could hear in his voice how much he was inwardly struggling. "Man, I gotta tell ya somethin'. Somethin' happened, bro."

Merle just smirked at his brother and looked back out the window. "I got it...full-bore, flesh-eatin' apocalypse."

Poor Daryl swallowed the lump in his throat so hard, I could actually hear it from the back seat. "Yeah. Yeah, but..." That seemed to reel Merle's attention back in. "we were up at Jess' camp house when the...when the eaters came down on us. We never heard anything about 'em. They tore us up. Kelsi, Jess and me...we were the only ones to get out."

Merle was quiet for a moment, letting this information sink in. But the way he asked, "Where's the ol' man?" really broke my heart. I have never heard Merle Dixon sound so broken.

It was quiet once more, before Daryl chose to just come right out with it. "He was up at the camp house too...He didn't make it, bro."

Merle's eyebrows furrowed, his chest began to weave in and out harshly. He was about to blow. "He's dead? The ol' man's DEAD?! YOU let the abominations get him?! Did you let him turn INTO one?! Did you let THAT happen too?!"

"No. I...we gave him mercy."

At this point Merle was breathing so heavy, I was worried he would hyperventilate. But he calmed down enough to ask, "What'd he say?" Daryl didn't answer right away. I could see that he was trying to come up with something, but his brother wasn't having it. "What did he SAY?!"

"He said, uh...he said, 'Tell Merle I'm proud of him'." The oldest Dixon's gaze once again moved to look outside, making Daryl a little nervous. "Merle?"

Merle just scoffed. "...What'd he really say?" When Merle realized that his brother wasn't going to answer that, he turned to me. "What about you, Hollywood? You gonna be a pussy and ignore me too?"

I genuinely felt sympathy for the man, but that was no excuse to be rude. "Ya want the truth?"

He glared at me. "Quit playin' with me and just answer the damn question! Don't ya think I deserve ta know what my ol' man's last words were?!"

"Jess told me his last words were 'Help me'. That's it. The man was pulled apart and barely breathin' when we got to him. I'm sorry y'all lost him, but there was nothin' Daryl could've done to save him. If there was, he would've."

Merle turned back around in his seat then. Finally more calm he asked, "Well what about Jess? Where's he at?"

Daryl once again chose not to answer, so I spoke up for him. "He got bit...turned...Daryl put him down."

At that information, Merle let out a short laugh. "So that old bastard croaked too? Just great-"

"Merle!" I knew Daryl was warning his brother. Warning him not to speak ill about their deceased uncle. However, as tough as he is, he still lets his older brother sink his claws in deep. That's something that I will never understand about Daryl Dixon. Why does he let Merle treat him so badly, then defend him as if he was a holy man?

Now here goes Merle's retaliation to keep his dominant role in the group. "What's your panties gettin' all twisted up about, lil' brother? Huh? That ol' fool gone and got bit! Left us here with those abominations-"

That's IT! Just 'cause Daryl's too chicken-shit to stand up to this asshole, don't mean I am. "Why don't you shut up, Merle!? Have some fuckin' respect! That man was your blood and now he's gone and you're gonna have the audacity to talk shit about him? He's not even here to defend himself."

Merle's head whipped around to face me so fast, I really thought his neck was gonna snap. "You best bite yer tongue you little bitch, or I'ma-"

"Or you'll what, Merle? Threaten me ta death? Talk shit about me 'til my ears bleed?"

"That's it! You done gone and messed up this time, you stupid-"

I guess it's hard to finish a sentence when someone slams on the breaks so hard it slings you into the dashboard. Once the two of us got over our mini heart attacks, we glared at the person operating this damn roller coaster. But Daryl was obviously unfazed by our staring. "Will the two'a ya shut the hell up?! We got better things to do, then ta sit here cussin' each other like dogs!" He paused his lecture long enough for Merle and I to straighten up and recover from being thrown around. "Merle, ya shut ya mouth 'bout Jess and don't be callin' Kelsi a bitch. And Kelsi, you just stay outta this and mind yer damn business."

Of course my anger wouldn't let me comply though. "This IS my business! That man was like a father to you, and he's settin' there actin' like a dick!"

And of course, Merle's pervert personality couldn't comply either, since he lovingly added, "You wanna see a dick? I got one waitin' on ya right here, babydoll." all while grabbing onto his crotch and laughing.

Gritting my teeth, I came back with, "You keep showing me where that thing is and I'm li'ble to reach over and punch it! You want a permanent LIMP dick!?"

All of this only added to Daryl's aggravation, causing him to let out an annoyed groan. "Are you two done yet? Or do I need ta drop ya off right here and move on?" We both chose to keep our mouths shut and not answer. I don't know about Merle, but I do know that I'm not wantin' to find out if he'd really leave us or not. The silence must've been good enough for Daryl, since he nodded once and got back on the road.

Merle just grumbled to himself and went back to watching the scenery. My eyes moved back to the road map that was thrown from my lap onto the floor. Once I picked it up, I saw something that made me pretty damn excited. "Hey. Can we at least stop by this creek and take a bath?"

Daryl glanced at me through the rear view mirror for a short moment before asking, "How close?"

I looked over the map just one more time to be sure. "Take the next right, up here. Follow that road about a half mile down and it'll lead us right to it."

Each of us washed up one by one. This way, there was two of us watching the area the entire time. We all knew to be as quick as possible. None of us wanted to get swarmed while completely nude. I told the boys to go first, they wouldn't take as long as me to get cleaned up. When my turn rolled around, I made it very clear for the boys to keep their eyes to themselves. Although Daryl promised me I had nothing to worry about, I still didn't trust it.

After grabbing clean clothes and soap from my bag, I quickly glanced around and that's when I got the idea. There was a long, thick branch that stretched over the small creek. It had a split halfway down and was just a perfect height. Snatching all three of our towels and stripping down to my bra and panties, I couldn't help but notice the feeling of being watched. Acknowledging the feeling, I turned to see just that. Merle had paused the action of tying his boots to glue his eyes to me, the man was practically drooling. Daryl was sitting on a tree stump continuing to sharpen his knife, but would glance up at me every three seconds. At least he was trying to be a little modest.

Letting out an annoyed huff, I ignored the pair of wandering eyes and hung the three towels over the branch. Essentially making somewhat of a curtain without getting the items completely soaked. I did, however, decided to just bathe the best I could with my underwear still on. Knowing I had clean undergarments to change into, I figured it would add to my shelter. Even though the creek water wasn't as clear as my shower water back home, I couldn't help but smile. Being able to rid my skin of all the blood, dirt and sweat was an amazing feeling. Inside, a small amount of guilt ran through my veins. You don't exactly realize all the things you take for granted until they're not an option anymore.

Once finished, I wrapped myself into my zebra print towel and grabbed the other two before stepping out of the water. Checking up on the boys' situation, not much had changed. Daryl slowly moved his thumb over the blade of his knife, making sure it was as sharp as he could get it. Merle, still as red as a damn lobster, leaned against the van. The both of them smoking cigarettes from the pack Merle had stolen from a dead officer. Looking down at the pile of clean clothes I had tossed onto a log, I realized that I would need a little help. So, I called over the one that has already seen me naked before anyway. "Daryl?!" He flicked ashes from his cigarette before his eyes met mine. "Could ya c'mere for a sec?" Nodding his head once, he took another drag and shoved his knife into its holster as he got to his feet.

Once close enough, he stated, "Ya better not be askin' me to go scavenge up lady products, 'cause I ain't doin' it."

Yes, that was totally embarrassing. Yes, I couldn't stop my damn face from turning red. But I also couldn't help but laugh at him. "Nice to know I can rely on a friend, but no. I need ya to do me a different favor."

His eyebrows furrowed before quickly glancing at his brother to make sure he wasn't eavesdropping. He wasn't. "What, uh...what is it?"

Handing him his towel, I answered his question with a question, "Will ya hold this up so I can change?" His body language seemed to relax at that, but he did let out an annoyed sigh. Taking the long piece of cloth from my hand, he stretched it out as far as it would go and waited for me to start changing. "Uh, turn around and hold it."

"Really?" I glared at him, letting him know he's not getting a peep show. Releasing another annoyed sigh, he turned while mumbling, "Fine." His back now facing me, I made quick work of getting dressed. Changing my underwear, shoving my legs into black skinny jeans and just as I was pushing my arms into my button-up flannel shirt, he asked, "Ain't you done yet?"

While finishing my last two buttons I finally answered him, "All done. Thanks." Picking up all of the droped articles of clothing and deciding to put my socks and boots on in the van, I walked past him with a big 'ol smirk plastered on my face. He glared at me before taking one last drag of his cigarette and flicking the butt of it into the water.

After stuffing my dirty clothes into my backpack, I took a moment to sit and cover my feet with socks and boots. Also using this rare, quiet moment to just take a damn breath, get a good drink of water and eat a quick handful of beef jerky we found back in Sedalia. As I sat there, soaking up the light breeze and faint smell of death in the air, I realized something. In this new world we've been thrown into, the quiet is almost scary. Scarier than being chased by corpses. Scarier than wondering if we're gonna run out of food or water...or a heartbeat. It sounds crazy, I know. You'd think I'd welcome the quiet with open arms at this point. But...when you hear the snarls and growls of the dead, at least you know where the danger is. But in the silence that lingered in the air, it almost made you feel safe. And feeling completely safe now a days, is nothin' but a death sentence.

The blur of Merle's finished cigarette butt racing through my peripheral snapped me out of my daze. The man still stood, leaning against the back of the van. Daryl had sat back on his log and began to sharpen the tips of my arrows, also checking their sturdiness after having so much use. Taking in a deep breath, I decided to give up my quiet moment for now and pick up a full water bottle. Merle seemed to be off into another realm as I took the spot in front of him. He didn't pull out of it until he felt the back of my hand lightly touching his beet-red forehead. This caused him to let out a hiss, his immediate reaction was to smack my hand away before his eyesight glued to mine. "The hell you think yer doin', Hollywood?"

Ignoring the attitude that seeped through that question, I held out the lukewarm water bottle to him. Instead of taking it, however, he just gave me a questioning look. As if he wasn't sure if I was trying to poison him or not. Taping the bottle to his forearm, I stated, "You're still burnin' up. Need ta keep ya hydrated."

He just scoffed at me, spit out a disgustingly green loogie, then straightened his stance. "Like you'd actually give a rats ass 'bout my health. Don't need no damn water, m'fine."

I figured he'd be stubborn, so I used my trump card. "What if I told ya I spiked it with Vodka?"

His eyes seemed to light up with joy at that, but it didn't last long before he was giving me that questioning look again. "That ain't got no damn Vodka in it. You and I both know, if there was any booze 'round here...yer ass would've knocked that shit back before I could even smell it. Just ta spite me."

I couldn't help but smirk at the man. He's not as dumb as he acts. "You're definitely right about that, Merle. Guess any decent alcoholic should be able to easily spot another decent alcoholic. But regardless, you're as red as a damn baboons ass and sweatin' like a whore in Church. You're gonna drink this water, then your brother and I are gonna find ya some medicine."

He let out a small chuckle before snatching the bottle from my hand. Unscrewing the lid, he tilted his head back and took several large gulps. Once he felt like he had really wet his whistle, he screwed the cap back on and tossed the bottle onto the ground behind me. "Didn't know ya cared so much about me, Hollywood. You sure you're with the right Dixon? Maybe my bed will be a lil' more cozy for ya tonight."

Smiling at his arrogance, I gently smacked the side of his head. "Nah. Just ain't in the mood to be diggin' you up a grave just yet. Wouldn't wanna mess up my manicure, after all." Merle actually laughed as he watched me hold out my dirty nails, pretending to admire the nonexistent french tip manicure. To think, having your nails done and kept to near perfection used to be a huge priority for some. Now, the constant light wafting of decay that seems to engulf this new world of ours, is a big reminder of just how frivolous that is.

Merle's laugh didn't last long. His younger brother stepped beside us and dragged our thoughts back into reality. "We need to get back on the road. It'll be dark b'fore long."

Merle kept quiet as he wiped away the sweat that still streamed down his forehead with the bottom of his shirt. Daryl swiftly replaced my arrows into their quiver as I addressed him. "What's our next destination?"

The youngest Dixon had opened his mouth to answer, but Merle quickly became involved with this topic. "We're goin' to Jake's. Thought I already told you pansies that."

Daryl couldn't help but send an angry grunt at his brother. "We gotta find you some antibiotics, Merle. Did you forget your dumbass tried to bake yourself?"

Before Merle could argue back, I tried to input my suggestion. "What about the hospital? The officer back at Garwater said he was takin' those one guys to Memorial."

So much for trying to prevent an argument though. My suggestion seemed to only piss Merle off more. "I ain't goin' to no damn hospital! Jake's will have stuff I can use!"

Letting out a sigh, Daryl actually agreed with his brother. "The hospital probably ain't the best idea. I don't know if you noticed, KJ, but one of those guys in that cruiser was bit. Wouldn't be surprised if Memorial was gone by now."

Massaging my temples out of frustration, I tried to throw another suggestion out there. "Okay then, what about one of those survivor camps your friend Scout mentioned? Didn't she say the army supplied 'em with meds? And that one of the bigger ones was at the Sawmill? I mean, that's probably our best bet. We're only a few miles away."

Daryl took a short moment to ponder that plan, but he ultimately agreed. "You're right. Let's move." Merle mumbled his complaints about us not taking him to Jake's right away, but he still shuffled into the van.

Arriving at the Saw Mill, we decide it best to park the Van a couple blocks away. Unfortunately, we didn't get here until it was already dark out. Nobody's really said anything since we left the creek, but my nerves are definitely going haywire right now. We're getting ready to move into unknown territory and half blind. This is dangerous, but getting antibiotics for Merle's fever is top priority.

While the boys almost immediately hop out of the Van, I stay and go through our supplies to make sure we have what we need. As I was finishing, however, I noticed that their conversation started to get a little too high pitched for my liking. I quickly throw my backpack on over my quiver and climb out to make sure we wasn't about to have a Dixon brawl on our hands. Coming into their 'little chat', Merle was waving his arms all around as he tried to throw another fit about moving on. "So, you're just gonna waltz up there, knock on the door, and ask to borrow a cup'a meds?"

"Man, what do you want me to do? You're sick as a dog and you need medicine. You didn't wanna go to no hospital-"

"Let's just go join my crew at Jake's. They got what we need!"

Daryl couldn't help be let out a sigh, trying to calm his aggravation. I don't blame him. I'm starting to get tired of hearing about Jake's too. Looking back to his stubborn brother, he tried to explain our deliema. "Yeah, we've gotta get there first. Travelin'...it ain't so easy these days."

Merle scratched the top of his bald head as he pitched out another line, "I'm comin' with you then."

Daryl just shook his head and chuckled a little, "Yeah? You can barely walk. Man, just stay put. Rest up. If anything happens just call us."

Essentially giving up, Merle answers with, "Fine." before turning back toward the Van and tuning his radio to the right signal.

Once the sound of the Van's door slamming shut echoed throughout the night, Daryl let out one more sigh before addressing me. "You good?"

A smile broke through as I came back with, "Are you?"

He rubbed some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and looked to the ground. I watched him for a moment and could almost physically see his gears moving. He's collecting himself. Trying to get back into that primal-survival mode after dealing with Merle. It's kinda crazy watching these two. They act as if what's going on is damn near normal for them. Like the fact that people coming back from the dead can walk around and eat anything moving isn't the worst thing that can happen. They've been moving and surviving all their life. This is the same thing for them. Only now, everyone else has to do it too.

"Let's go."

Scout was right, this camp was indeed inhabited by people. Unfortunately for us, there was also a lot of intruders roaming around the Sawmill. As I shot one down, Daryl raised his radio to inform Merle. "Aw, hell."

Merle immediately responded back as I put down another one. "What do you got?"

Daryl moved for the one that finally got close enough to take the blade of his knife while answering his brother. "They got eaters in here, too!" This is just great. The three of us were really hoping for a safe place to settle down long enough to get Merle healed back up. But of course, these dead freaks moved in like a disease and killed off all of our hope.

There wasn't a response from Merle. Instead, we got some guy's voice over an intercom. "ATTENTION! We've got goons near the Stacks! Try to get a light on 'em!"

The log stacks? Oh, shit! That's where we are. Daryl snatched a hold of my arm and pushed me up against the logs, just as a spotlight hit where we were. Gunshots instantly started firing at the dead. I could hardly hear Merle coming through the radio from how loud the gunfire was. "I heard that. Ain't they bein' neighborly?"

I couldn't help but scoff at the sound of the bullets ricocheting off the other side of the log pile we were hiding behind. "Neighborly, my ass."

Ignoring my smart assery, Daryl chose to answer the other Dixon. "Yeah, they aren't shootin' at us. Not yet."

The gunfire stopped as well as the spotlight moving on. Seems they've terminated all the undead on this end. That's when the intercom came back through. "Dammit, people! We've got to keep a sharper watch! Travis, get a group out there to check the west fences! There's a hole out there somewhere! Watch for stragglers. Only takes one to ruin your day."

The spotlight didn't seem to come back after that, but Daryl peeked his head out just to be sure. I, however, was still pretty concerned. This 'survivor camp' is overrun. "What are we gonna do, Daryl? This place is crawling with the dead. Not to mention hostile survivors with fuckin' machine guns."

Once he concluded that there wasn't gonna be any more bullets flying this way, he turned to me. "We're already here and we gotta get those meds for Merle. We're gonna stick to the shadows and make our way into that building."

"Through the maze of biters and gunfire-"

"Yes...now come on."

Man, if this was a cartoon, there would be smoke blowing out of my ears right now. Ignoring my anger, I followed Daryl out of the maze of log stacks. This place was surrounded by tall fences, with a huge brick building as its main focus. Going through the front doors wasn't going to be an option for us, however. Biters were everywhere and there was two spotlights moving along the ground from the roof. As soon as one of the lights landed on a walking corpse, gunfire erupted through the air until is was dead for good. We're going to have to duck behind the abandoned vehicles and make our way to the fence on the other side. All while dodging eaters, spotlights and gunfire. Awesome.

And that's exactly what we did. Jumping behind one vehicle to the next, occasionally knifing down dead folks and staying AWAY from the light. We was halfway there when our luck finally ran out. "There he is! Tag him!" The light landed on Daryl mid-run and bullets immediately started pouring down.

"DARYL!"

Uncontrollable tears ran down my cheeks as soon as I saw him get hit. It happened so fast. Daryl was running, but stumbled for a second and instantly put his hand on his left shoulder before diving behind a truck. I knew a bullet hit his shoulder, but how bad was it? Was he sitting behind that truck, in the dark, bleeding out? Was Daryl going to die? Was I going to lose him? What if he turns? Will I be able to find enough strength to put him down myself? I can't do this. He's the reason I'm still alive. I can't keep fighting without him. I-

"Hey! I ain't a eater! I'm alive!"

"D-Daryl?" He's okay? Before I had time to think any further, the intercom came back through.

"You get 'im Mallory?"

"Can't tell, Mr. Swenson. Was live though; a stranger. Not a goon."

"We got a swarm of 'them' comin' up the East slope. We'll tend to the goons. You keep an eye on that one."

"Yes sir."

"Take the intruders down, Mallory. They're every inch as deadly as the goons."

Once the conversation was over, the spotlight moved on. This was my chance. I ran as fast as I could and slid behind the truck like it was a home run in Baseball. There he was. Sitting on the ground, leaning against the front wheel of the truck and still holding onto his left shoulder. Blood was slowly seeping through his fingers. "Daryl. Are you-is it bad?"

He hissed slightly when he lifted his hand to look at the wound. "Naw, it just grazed me. I'm fine."

"You're NOT fine. It could get infected. Not to mention the smell of fresh blood might attract, 'them'." We're lucky the constant gunfire was distracting them. We have to move though, we can't hide behind this truck forever. Ripping off a good chunk of my shirt, from my bellybutton down, I motioned for him to let me see his shoulder. He moved his hand and it seemed like the bleeding had already slowed down. It's hard to really tell in the dark, but I don't think it's deep enough to need stitches. Moving quickly, I wrapped the torn piece of shirt around his shoulder and tied it tight.

We finally made it to the fence and that's when we spotted the problem. "I see one way they're gettin' in." Daryl's voice came through right when I saw it. There was huge hole in the damn thing. No wonder so many eaters managed to slip into this place. "Might be able to block 'em off." Looking around, we almost instantly spotted an abandoned truck that was still running. Daryl ran to it and shut the headlights off before parking it in front of the hole. "There. That ought to hold 'em."

As he was shutting the engine off, the intercom came on again. "Mallory! Goons have broken through! Get over here and help!" It was quiet for a moment while Daryl and I took this opportunity to scan the area. There was quite a few tents laying around. "We've called the military for assistance, but there's only one recon chopper in the area. They won't make it in time." The military, huh?

Deciding not to worry about going through each tent, we make our way to a brick warehouse. There were two eaters scratching on the metal door, so I use my arrows to shoot 'em both down. In the meantime, Daryl knifed down one that had followed us. As we each cleaned off an arrow, I whispered to my partner. "Think anyone's inside?" Seems like all the rapid gunfire has stopped too. What happened?

He slid the arrow into my quiver before answering, "Those things were tryin' to get to something, right?" I nodded and reached for the doorknob. But before I could even turn the damn thing, someone reached through and pulled me in. The sudden momentum made me slip and I fell on the cold tile floor. Looking back, I saw Daryl already had his pistol drawn and was using his other hand to lock the door. His anger immediately firing off. "What the HELL is your problem!?"

Standing up, I finally got a look at the asshole that pulled me in. He was an older black man with gray hair and a goatee to match. He looked to be in his fifties at the very least. The room we were in seemed to be an employees break room at one point. There was a few cafeteria tables and a small kitchenette behind him. We all paused, however, when we heard a helicopter hovering over outside. They weren't here long, though. In fact, they didn't even land. Just hovered for a few minutes and left. Did they abandon this place 'cause it's too overrun?

There was a noise that brought my attention back to the stranger. That noise was him holstering his gun. He's not going to attack us? He must've noticed my questioning look. "I ain't gonna shoot you. Not yet." That voice. One from the intercom. Is this guy Mr. Swenson? "Don't have much choice but to bargain with you, now do I?"

Daryl lowered his gun, but kept it in his hand. "What are you talkin' about?"

The man immediately started pointing at us and yelling, "YOU'RE the stranger! Was it worth it? All of...all of this?" Daryl and I both looked at him like he had lost his mind. "We had a good thing goin' here. Little way station, goons kept outside. I was able to protect these people! Why'd you do it?"

Daryl pointed to himself, officially pissed off now. "Me?! I didn't do this! WE didn't do this." He stomped his way in front of me then, using his body as a shield. "Too bad about your camp. But we didn't cut no fence."

The man just waved it off, so I added, "You fuckers shot at us. This place was already a cesspool when we got here."

Mr. Swenson, I assume, just ignored me. But Daryl sighed, already done with this conversation. "Look. My brother. He's REAL sick. We know you've got meds. That's the only reason we came here."

"Meds? Yeah, I suppose. Guess that's all I got now." The older man turned and rummaged through the cabinets and a few drawers before pulling out a large baggie of pill bottles. "Is this enough to buy me a ticket out of here?"

"Yeah man," Daryl took the baggie and shoved it into his backpack after putting his pistol away. "that's more than enough."

Mr. Swenson nodded then pointed to the door behind him. "Main gate is that way . It's still blocked, last I saw. You gotta cut through the sawmill to get out. It's gated too." He then pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Daryl before continuing. "Here's the uh, code key. I got more ammo stashed, I'ma grab it and I'll meet you at the gate. Hopefully." He went to go out the door we came from, but stopped and added. "Oh, and watch out for the splitter blades. They'll make lunch meat out of ya." We both nodded at that and headed for the door.

Daryl flipped on his flashlight as we walked back into the thick darkness. There was a broken down truck, but quickly peaking inside, I couldn't find anything useful so we moved on. Following along side the tall fence until getting to its locked doors. To the left was a key pad, so Daryl pulled out the written code Swenson gave him as I searched through the darkness for any danger. Hearing a sudden beep followed by a click, I turned around and followed my partner onto the other side.

You could instantly hear a motor running, knowing it was the giant blades made me a bit nervous. Moving further in, we could make out ailes of wood boards and full on pieces of tree trunks. Splitting right down the middle was a moving conveyor belt, as well as rows of quickly spinning, sharp metal blades. There was some light from the hanging lamps clinging to the tall ceiling, so Daryl put away the flashlight. The fact that the blade motor was so loud is what worried me most. We're not gonna be able to hear the familiar gurgling in time.

This caused some hesitancy in my movements and my partner noticed immediately. He stopped and lightly tapped my cheek while attempting to comfort me, "It's gonna be fine, KJ. Just keep ya guard up." Yeah. Keep my guard up. I've been doing that this whole time, but he still managed to get shot...Well, grazed, but it still scared the hell outta me.

I just gave him a nod and followed him to the side of the conveyor belt. And can I just go ahead and say that we have the worst luck? We got half way when a group of around ten bags of death caught wind of us. They all put down their meal and outstretched their arms to us. Curse words simultaneously flooded from our mouths as we ran onto the conveyor belt. The sudden motion nearly knocked me on my ass, but Daryl grabbed me by the forearm and balanced me out just in time.

The rotten group was relentless in their chase, but we thought up a plan quickly. Stopping in our tracks and turning around, we began 'walking in place' to stay in one spot on the continuously moving belt. Once they were close enough, we hopped to the side and ran back on the belt behind the rotating blades. The geeks tried to continue their chase, but they wasn't quick enough to outrun the belt. They were, how did Swenson put it? Turned into lunch meat but the sharpness of those blades.

It made an awful crunching noise and we had to jump out of the way of human flesh made shrapnel, but that was the end of our little friends. Merle must of heard the disgusting sound too, he came in through the radio before it was even over. "What the hell is all that racket, lil' brother?"

Daryl and I couldn't help but laugh a little before responding. "It's all good. Don't sweat it."

"Well hurry up and get your asses down here. Hell, the log guy's already here. What is he, four times older than you?"

I chuckled again at the smart ass biker while putting away my bow and arrow. Daryl just smirked and told his brother, "We're comin'."

Mere let out a chuckle of his own, replying, "Yeah, I bet. Don't knock her up ya dick. We got shit ta do."

That comment caused both of us to pause in utter embarrassment. When I finally snapped out of it, I yanked the damn walkie-talkie out of Dixsons hand and yelled, "Shut the hell up!"


	10. TAGGART DRIVE-IN

TWD Ch. 10

We didn't drive far from the Sawmill when Swenson finally spoke up, "See that station up there?"

All of us, including Merle, gave him a questioning look. It was our 'personal driver', however, that asked him, "Yeah? What about it?"

The older man looked down to his feet for a moment, the scrunched facial expression telling me he was deep in thought. It didn't take him too long to make up his mind though. "I want you to let me out up there."

Merle scoffed while bringing his attention back to the scenery outside his widow, Daryl gave the man a look through the rear view mirror before his eyes went back to the road. I was different. I was concerned for the man. He wouldn't survive long on his own. "Why are you tryin' to separate from us? You know it wasn't us that cut that fence, so why leave? We can help each other."

His mouth opened to answer me, but Merle had to put his two cents in first. "If that half dead fool wants to go all 'Lone Ranger' on us, then fuck 'im. Let 'im go."

"He doesn't need to be left alone out-"

Swenson's hand grabbing my shoulder stopped me mid-sentence. He gave me a pitiful smile, one that said 'I'll be fine' but deep down, I knew that was a lie. "There might be survivors from my Camp still out there. They would go to the nearest form of shelter and that gas station is the closest there is...I'm gonna hole up there and wait for 'em."

I couldn't help but look at him like he was crazy. There was no way of knowing if any of his people actually managed to escape. There was no way of knowing they would head for or even make it to that tiny gas station. Why do this? I wanted to protest, but by the time I started to initiate that action, we were already parked and letting our passenger exit. As he shut the door, I quickly hopped out of the van. "Mr. Swenson, wait!" He stopped his walk toward the doors and turned to look at me while adjusting the backpack strap on his shoulder. "Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?"

He smiled at me before sliding his bag off and digging through it. "I'm sure, hun." Finding what he was looking for, he gave me a quick hug while placing the item from his bag into my hands. I looked down to find a pair of hunting binoculars. "I know it's not much, but they come in handy more than you think."

My head immediately shook to tell him no. "You already gave us that whole bag of meds. What if you need these-"

He just waved me off and put his bag back on his shoulder. "I'm gonna be honest here and just say what's already on everyone's mind. I'm not gonna last out here." Him saying it out loud made my grip tighten on the binoculars. "But we had families in that Camp. Children...I have to try."

All I could do is suck up my tears and let him know, "I understand."

I didn't wanna move my feet though. It felt wrong to turn my back on him, but he didn't give me much of a choice. He gently turned me and nudged me back toward the van. "Now go back to your boys. And take care of yourself youngin'."

And that was it. I waited to hear the doors to the gas station shut, before finally climbing back into the van and then we were on our way. I wanted to sulk. I wanted to feel bad for once since this whole thing started, but in came Merle Dixon. "That's one less nigger in the world. Don't know why we wasted any of our time on him anyway."

Of course my insides wanted to argue with him, but I felt like my energy was drained. "Shut the fuck up, Merle. I don't need your racist shit." He just huffed and went back to what he was doing.

[Line break]

It was actually quiet for a few minutes after that. I almost fell asleep, but then the raido Daryl left in one of the cup holders started to make noise. Merle reached over and turned the volume up just in time to hear a piece of the Military's conversation. "Lumber Sawmill Camp has been compromised. We got there too late." Hmph, too late's right.

"We'll keep our eyes sharp, Control. If we spot invaders we'll deal with 'em." Almost immediately after that, I could hear the sound of helicopters coming from the direction of the Sawmill. I couldn't see it though.

Merle was looking for it too before looking to his brother. "C'mon, man. We gotta get off the road."

Daryl quickly glanced back at me through the mirror while addressing the older Dixon, "Yeah, they're lookin' for somebody, but it's not us. Wasn't us that killed that camp."

"They don't care 'bout that! They're still after my head, man. And anyway, we can't lead 'em back to my club."

My head shook at the feverish man, it almost made me laugh. "They don't even know you exist, dumbass."

Daryl looked at his brother. "Calm down, bro. Take your pills. I'll find a place."

And find a place we did. About five more minutes down the road, we parked right next to the entrance of Taggart Drive-in. Once again I let the boys get out first while I gathered my bow and quiver, making sure to also wrap the strap on the binoculars around my neck. I also changed my ripped flannel shirt to a loose, black long sleeve shirt. Before I could even make it to my spot next to Daryl, Merle's paranoia came back. "We gotta switch-out, those birds are hawkin' us."

I chuckled at him, "Yeah right."

Daryl just shook his head, "Could be to help. You ever think about that?-"

Merle quickly put his hand up, "Shh! You hear that?" I saw the spotlight before the actual helicopter. It was pretty dark, not to mention raining. "Chopper." The helicopter flew right over our heads and continued on it's way. Wherever that is. "Yes sir, right there." His eyes moved back to Daryl. "They spot us?"

"Man, how the hell am I supposed to know that?"

"Just rustle up a new ride. I'm goin' up that hill to see what I can see. Let me borrow them binoculars, Hollywood Jr."

I glared at the man while pulling the strap from around my neck. So now I'm Hollywood Jr? "You sure you want 'em, Merle? They were a gift from that black man back there. Ya know, the one you disrespectfully called a nigger?"

He gave me a glare of his own and roughly snatched the binoculars from my hand. "Just have your radio on, lil' brother. And keep a tight leash on this one."

There were three undead lingering around the small building you would stop at to pay to get in, so we each took one down. Daryl and I waited a moment and watched Merle climb up the hill before moving forward. We didn't even get past the gate when I noticed something, making sure to inform my partner. "Daryl. This place has electricity."

He stopped and looked around, seeing what I said was true. The street lights surrounding the drive-in parking lot were on, along with a few dim lights inside the building the projectors were in. "Hm, must be a generator." I nodded my agreement and followed him past the gate.

Our weapons were ready and we were on high alert. Even though there were street lights on, they were very dim. And the rain didn't help the impending darkness at all. Being in the dark was scary enough, but the fact that we couldn't hear anything but the sound of raindrops was even scarier. All these abandoned vehicles, all of the people that had to have been trapped in here...where the hell are their corpses? We barley got ten feet into the lot when a woman's voice sounded through an intercom. "Young man? Young man. Don't let those poxie unfortunates hurt you, ya hear?"

That did it. That awoke the dead. As soon as her voice disappeared, we could hear what sounded like hundreds of growls and gurgles moving about. Daryl grabbed my wrist and moved to start running, but stopped in his tracks when the projector of screen one came on and started a movie. She was trying to distract them. And distract them she did. Most of the soulless bodies wobbled their way over to the lit up screen, clawing and moaning at it. But it was the sound of Merle's voice on the radio that made me jump a little. "That nice lady put on a little romance flick for the lovely couple."

Daryl's eyebrows furrowed with anger as he unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt. "Now ain't the time for jokes, Merle. There's a lot of 'em here."

"Well no shit, baby brother. She put the movie on for ya, now sneak around and turn the speakers on to keep 'em off your tail."

Our eyes instantly locked, widened in surprise by the fact that for once, Merle's advice wasn't completely stupid. After hearing that woman's voice, my immediate thought was to go in the building and find her. But Merle's right, we need to keep the rest of this hoard busy enough not to wanna come knocking on our door. So we decided to split up. I know that sounds crazy, but we used the darkness and rain to mask our sight and sound from the undead. Ducking behind the abandoned vehicles and moving quickly but quietly from one to the other. All while flipping the switches on the movie speakers. We focused on the ones closest to the screen, to keep 'em farther from the building.

After finally meeting my quota, I met Daryl under a gazebo on the left side of the building. He was sitting on top a picnic table when I got there, both of us soaking wet from the rain. He didn't say anything, just nodded to the building. I stood there confused for a moment, before meeting his gaze. The building was covered with handmade spikes. I could tell the material used to make the spikes where from some of the picnic tables, as well as the privacy fence that surrounded most of the drive-in. The spikes, however, wasn't what Daryl was trying to show me. Someone had rigged dynamite around one whole side of the building.

"What the fuck?" It came out as a whisper because my nerves wouldn't let me speak any loader. Can you really blame me for being scared of standing next to so many explosives?

Daryl stood up from the table and stopped slightly in front of me. "I know. But that voice sounded like some ol' lady, right?" All I could do is nod my head, my gaze still glued to the explosives. "How could a ol' lady do all this?"

He's right. If that is an elderly woman in there, how'd she manage all of this along with the roamers? Maybe she's not alone. Then again, she could be a hostage victim in there. Taking a deep breath, I looked at my partner with a little more confidence. "Let's go find out."

We snuck our way to the other side, noticing a few of the undead stuck on the homemade spikes. They tried to reach for us, but didn't have enough strength to get free. Once we made it to the double doors on the right side of the building, we carefully wiggled our way through the wooden spears. I reached for the handles and they were unlocked, but something was barricading it on the other side. The two of us pressed a shoulder each on the doors, counted to three and slammed our weight into it. It only took two tries to get it to budge enough to squeeze through.

Once we were finally inside we quickly looked around. To our right is the kitchen, Daryl skimmed through the place, but didn't come out with anything more than a few candy bars. There were posters of movies that was playing at the time plastered all over the walls. Some of which I actually wanted to see, before the world ended that is. We each checked the restrooms, which was vacant. This entire building seemed vacant. Did we imagine that old woman's voice?

I was starting to believe that theory, until I heard someone mumble, "I hope that young man isn't injured." Daryl and I quickly looked at each other, then made our way to the projection room we heard the voice coming from. Opening the door, the room was quiet. All that could be heard was the light clicking of the old movie projector and the rain outside. The room was slightly lit and an elderly black woman sat in a metal chair right next to the projector. All by herself. She wasn't being held hostage, but next to her sat a cane. There's no way she rigged this place up by herself. No way. Her voice grasped my attention quickly. "Oh, there's two of you. Please tell me you didn't come here all by your lonesomes, not with things bein' what they are."

Daryl glanced around, allowing his guard to lower slightly. "No ma'am, my brother's keepin' watch."

Huh, to think, a Dixon actually has manors. "Such a nice young couple. But you should gather up your brother and head to Palmetto Estates."

Daryl gave her a small smile before answering, "We're goin' that way, soon as we can get new wheels. Can you spare one of those?"

"Oh, those aren't mine to give, I'm afraid. But I own a car I could let you have."

Daryl nodded his thanks. "Anything we can do for ya, b'fore we go?"

She grabbed her cane and held it to her chest as she contemplated that offer, "Well...if you could be a dear and retrieve Satchmo from my house, it would be all I could ask for. It's in that housing edition behind the lot."

Daryl looked to me for my approval and I smiled at him. That being enough of an answer he looked back at the kind woman and said, "Consider it done."

I didn't have a problem with this, even though we could simply hot wire any of those vehicles, it feels nice doing this for her. She gave a slight chuckle and said, "I'll look for my keys while you two are gone."

Before we did this, I just had to ask. "Um, ma'am? Who-who made all those spikes and rigged the dynamite?"

She smiled and looked down for a moment, seeming to reminisce on something before answering me. "It was my son. He put all that there and handed me the detonator before leaving to look for some more supplies. Told me to press it if he didn't come back in a few days. He begged me not to let those poor souls get a hold of me."

Daryl looked at her with sympathy while I gathered the courage to ask, "How long's he been gone?"

She looked me right in the eyes and said, "Three days", then looked at her cane. And that's when I noticed it. A small remote duck taped to the middle of the aluminum walking stick.

[Line break]

After she drew us a quick map, we snuck through the lot to the other side of the fence. It wasn't hard to find her tiny house, in fact, it was right at the end of the road. Running into the door, we immediately started whisper-yelling, "Satchmo!" But there was something wrong here. I kept hearing the familiar growling, but none of it seemed to be coming from inside. Taking the initiative to glance out the living room window, I spotted the problem. Half the fucking hoard was making their way down the street right for us. "Aw, shit! Daryl!" My adrenaline had me moving instantly. I rushed to pull the couch in front of the door. It wouldn't hold 'em all back, but it would buy us some time. Hopefully. Daryl came running in from the kitchen as soon as I finished pushing it all the way to the wall. "We got a major problem here."

He looked at me confused until Merle's voice came in to explain. "Hey, man. I don't know what the hell's goin' on, but most of the eaters are movin' to the housing edition behind the drive-in. Just a heads up."

Daryl immediately cursed and started searching more aggressively for our prize. "Dammit! Satchmo! Where the hell are you?!"

"Satchmo!" It wasn't long before I heard a panicked 'meow' coming from the bedroom. "Daryl, in here!" He slammed his way through the door and we instantly spotted a cat carrier with the name 'Satchmo' painted on the side. The poor cat was hissing and clawing at the metal door, begging to be free.

"Guess that's you, huh?" Daryl quickly grabbed the handle and headed to the back door. The undead was already scratching and banging on the walls.

We stopped at the door and Daryl quickly pulled out a grenade from his pocket. "Whoa, where the hell'd you get that thing?"

He pulled the pin and kept his grip tight on the trigger. "Found a few of 'em by that dynamite." He picked the cat carrier back up before continuing, "Get ready to move that couch. Soon as the majority of 'em move to the back, we're boltin'."

I nodded and ran back into the living room, sliding the couch enough where one big push would be all that's needed to get it completely out of the way. The sudden vibration of the blast almost knocked me down, but seeing Daryl damn near fly into the living room with a cat carrier in his hand, put me back in gear.

Placing my hands on the couch, preparing myself to push while Daryl watched out the window. Once most of the dead made their way to the back yard he yelled, "Alright, now! Go! Go!" I pushed with all of my adrenaline fueled strength and the old couch slid a couple feet from the door. Daryl yanked on the handle then grabbed my wrist and we ran as fast as we could, dodging and swerving all of the lingering dead folks left on the road.

Luckily we didn't have to jump the privacy fence this time, since the roamers had busted through it, leaving a big hole. As soon as we hopped through the threshold, Merle came back in, "What the hell are you doin'?!"

Daryl released my wrist to lift the radio to his mouth. "What's it look like I'm doin', I'm savin' the damn day!"

We managed to get back inside without alerting anymore of the dead, but that hoard by the house isn't going to be distracted for long. We both ran into the projector room, stumbling the whole way in. The old woman lit up with joy when she heard the scared meows of her pet feline. "Oh thank God and thank YOU Mister!" Daryl gently placed the plastic cage next to her feet while she handed him the jingling item we worked for. "Here are the keys. I forget where I parked Betsy, but there's a chirper on the ring."

Daryl waited a moment to fully catch his breath before asking, "You sure you won't come with?"

She chuckled a little while wiggling her finger through the door of the carrier, trying to comfort her pet. "I've done all the running I'm gonna do for this lifetime. Now, you go on. Go on, we'll be just fine." Daryl nodded then made his way out the door. I leaned in to give her a gentle goodbye kiss on the cheek, but she gripped onto my arm. Whispering in my ear. "I know Betsy is parked somewhere near my house. But listen to me carefully child. Soon as you sound the chirper, find a place to hide until the time is right."

[Line break]

I told Daryl what the woman said to me as we snuck our way back to the housing edition. We wasn't sure what she meant by it, but decided we would listen to her anyway. We hid a couple houses down from the one we extracted Satchmo from. Half of the herd still wandered around it. Daryl pushed the button on the key ring and the car we was looking for beeped a couple times as well as flashed it's lights. This attracted the undead and they immediately started migrating to it, but it was only moments after that we heard an amazingly loud bang. The wave from this explosion really did knock me on my ass. Daryl quickly helped me up while watching the flames slowly rising from the projector building.

We weren't the only ones watching it though. The entire hoard of dead all moved to the inflamed building. My hyperventilating started almost instantly. "She-But she-Why would she..."

Daryl pulled my back into his chest, leaving a tender kiss on my head while holding me tight. "Yeah. One last badass move...from one badass woman. She saved us, Kelsi. It was her choice now just breath. Breath."

Tears fell from my eyes as I watched the flames grow bigger. I forced my breathing to calm down as I choked out a prayer for the kind woman and her cat. "Dear God...please...please just bring 'em home. Don't let 'em feel no pain."

We waited for all the roamers to leave the street before finally getting into the SUV. Before we could even start the thing, however, Merle came in again. "What's takin' you so long? All these cars to high jack and it takes you guys an hour?"

"We're on our way, just hold up."

Merle...this is all his fault. His stupid paranoia caused so much trouble. We have to trade a van for a fuckin' SUV. We risked our lives for a cat and now...now that poor old woman is dead. Why? Why do we have to do everything Merle asks for like he's some kind of king? Why can't Daryl stand up for himself and know when to say no?

[Line break]

While Daryl siphoned all the gas from the van and put it in the suv, Merle and I moved all of our supplies. Throwing the last bag into the trunk, he chuckled and asked me, "So, what caused that explosion that ended up savin' you two sorry asses?"

That's enough. I've had enough of this man. He's heartless, racist and just a straight up dickhead! Wait a minute...speaking of dickhead. I shoved my bag into the trunk, turned to Merle Dixon and with all my might, kicked him straight in the nuts. He let out a moan that could rival the dead, grabbed his family jewels and fell to the dirt. "Fuck! You!"

Daryl dropped what he was doing just in time to hear his brother cuss me. "Oh! That stupid, no good...bitch!"

Daryl's arms came out in the shape of a cross. "What the hell, Kelsi!? What'd you do?!"

"She got me, bro...ugh! She fuckin'...kicked me right in the balls!"

I stomped my foot and pointed at the injured man. "This is all your fault! Thanks to your selfish bullshit, we have to give our van for something smaller! The military doesn't give a rats ass about you! Because of you, we almost died down there and that poor old woman and her poor old cat had to blow their way to Heaven to save us!"

He finally, but slowly pulled himself to his feet. If looks could kill, I would've dropped dead on the spot. "You. You kicked me in the nuts for a old hag?!" Then, before I could even blink he lunged for me.

"Hey!" Daryl pushed his brother back and pulled me behind him. "You said them birds are lookin' for us, right? Well we got a new ride so let's move b'fore they come back."

Merle spit a big loogie, said, "Whatever." And hobbled to the passenger side. I don't care how much trouble I'm gonna be in now. That felt good.


End file.
